Although most professional organizations and associations have developed codes of ethics, the majority of these codes do not include concrete examples of particularly challenging and difficult situations which often confront both court and community interpreters. Rather, and necessarily, the guidelines are of a general nature in an attempt to set standards regarding important issues such as confidentiality and impartiality which apply to numerous circumstances. In addition to terminological, procedural, and subject matter problems (especially in legal and medical settings), interpreters face ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. These difficulties may be associated with the participants themselves (such as their respective roles and personalities) and/or they may be reflective on the nature of a specific situation (a courtroom setting or a mental health clinic). This paper examines several codes of ethics, selects the canons mentioned most often, and illustrates these canons with examples of real-life ethical problems and their solutions.