About Us

Maria Ceballos-Wallis, an interpreter and mediator, and Barrie J Roberts, an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) professional, ESL instructor and former attorney, met through Marjory Bancroft (Cross-Cultural Communications, “CCC”) in the spring of 2020 to develop an online mediation training for interpreters.  

This first- of -its kind training, called Foundations in Conflict Resolution and ADR for Interpreters, was based on survey data showing that formal training and self-study materials on these topics were virtually non-existent and that few interpreters knew how to prepare themselves to interpret in the ever-growing contexts of mediation and other ADR processes.  

Based on enthusiastic feedback from trainees and CCC about their engaging and eye-opening training and comprehensive, practical materials, and their passion for the topic, Maria and Barrie have continued working together to fill this gap in training through webinars, trainings and a podcast, including presentations through De La Mora Institute of Interpretation.  

Upcoming projects include their workshop for the 2022 Annual NAJIT Conference in Fort Lauderdale (Introduction to Mediation and ADR for Interpreters); their September 17, 2022 live -online training hosted by AAIT (Mediation: A New Niche for Interpreters); their forthcoming first-of-its-kind ADR self-study and reference guide for interpreters (The Interpreter’s Guide to Mediation and other ADR Processes); trainings, webinars and materials to help mediators work in sync with interpreters during interpreted mediations; and articles for both interpreters and mediators on various topics concerning interpreted mediations.

Barrie J. Roberts, JD (UC College of the Law, San Francisco), MA (TESOL) (California State University, Sacramento), LL.M. (Dispute Resolution) (Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute) has served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Administrator for two southern California superior courts and as a volunteer mediator and trainer for the San Francisco Community Boards community mediation program. As an ESL instructor at UC Berkeley and an adjunct Negotiations instructor at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law, she created Mediation as a Second Language (MSL) to provide English for Specific Purposes courses in negotiation and mediation for international ESL students. Her publications include "Conflict Resolution Training for the Classroom: What Every ESL Teacher Needs to Know," University of Michigan Press, E - Book Single (2020)  and The Getting to Yes (c)  Guide for ESL Students and Professionals: Principled Negotiation for Non-Native Speakers of English 

(University of Michigan Press, April 2024) . Before ADR, Barrie was a public interest staff attorney with Legal Services of Northern California, Inc.

Maria Ceballos-Wallis is a Federally Certified Court Interpreter (FCCI), a Master License Legal Spanish-English Court Interpreter for the State of Georgia with additional Certification in the State of Florida. 

She is also a Georgia-registered civil and domestic mediator (GODR.org). Maria works in State, Federal, and Immigration Courts. From 2011 to 2024, she was a valued staff interpreter at the DeKalb County State Court in Decatur, Georgia.

Maria has been involved in multilingual communications since 1990, driven by her passion to eliminate barriers to effective communication through her expertise in language and media. An accomplished television and documentary producer, Maria received a certificate in translation studies from Florida International University in 2002 and was certified as a Spanish><English translator by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters in Australia. 

Maria holds an M.A. in international studies from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL, and a B.A. in communication arts with a minor in French from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. She has taught English as a second language at Miami Dade Community College, lectured on mass communications as an adjunct at Florida International University (Spanish/English), taught online classes with De La Mora Institute of Interpretation since 2014, and presented at NAJIT, AAIT, and Emory Healthcare interpreter conferences.

Maria occupied various key positions on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Association of Interpreters and Translators (AAIT.org) from 2011 to 2016. From 2017 to 2024, she was appointed to represent interpreters on the Board of the Georgia Committee on Interpreters. She joined the team of instructors for the Georgia Committee on Interpreters' Orientation Program in 2019.

In 2020, Maria co-founded InterpretADR with Barrie Roberts and co-developed "Foundations in Conflict Resolution and ADR for Interpreters," the first online training of its kind. Maria also currently hosts the podcast "Subject to Interpretation," where she interviews guests on topics of interest to professional interpreters in all fields. 

**Subject to Interpretation:** https://youtu.be/-lcBntc9sLo)