Michaelr:
You state that..."It seems reasonable to me for a lawyer to be able to communicate with his/her client in one's or the other's language... especially in a high-profile case like this. " Well, this means if a particular ethic community does not have the most competant lawyers, or has a small number of lawyers, their community should not have equal access to justice? Is that what you mean? Or is it that only linguists should practice law, and that trials should be held until a lawyer can train in a minority language, such as, say Aluit?
Cheers Larry