When performing in institutional encounters such as doctor-patient consultations and police interviews, the interpreters’ task is to make the participants’ verbal communication possible. In doing so, interpreters exercise discretion within a narrow but complex area of expertise, where they rely on trust from their clients on both sides of the table. For established professions, their clients’ professional trust is based on the practitioners’ education and a shared code of ethics. Practitioners of interpreting in the community or public service setting often lack both. Analysing the activity of interpreting in this setting within a general model of professionalization, this chapter shows that although interpreting fulfils the performative aspect of professional activity, the organizational aspect (i.e., education) is not developed. It is argued that the situation hampers not only the interpreters’ process of professionalization but also has negative repercussions for the professional integrity of those in charge of the institutional encounters and their clients, and ultimately for interpreting research and the development of the field’s knowledge base.