This book is only available in PDF format 
Published: 28 July, 2008
Pages: 128

Introduction from the chair

Mental health advocacy is a unique aspect of legal practice. The type of advocacy required of lawyers with mental health clients is not the purely adversarial kind more typically found elsewhere in the legal system. Lawyers with mental health clients must know and think about their duties to their clients, as they do in the adversarial system, but also preserve the therapeutic relationship those clients have with their clinicians – and this makes the task different and more difficult.

This intensive will consider the legal and medical issues involved in advocacy in this area of law. It will also look at significant aspects of the developing law concerning the compulsory mental health assessment and treatment process: the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 has been in operation for some 15 years, and court and Mental Health Review Tribunal decisions abound. All the session lead to the mock hearing at the end of the day. Although advocates in other courts can observe other counsel at work, advocates in Compulsory Treatment Order hearings can’t. This is your opportunity to observe, hear what a judge has to say and why – and to ask questions.

Whilst the intensive is structured principally for legal practitioners who currently work in the mental health sector, or who intend to, we hope health professionals will also be interested in attending.

David Bates, Barrister, Tauranga

Authors

Author(s): Dr Andrew Butler, Dr Mark Earthrowl, Dr Nick Judson, Dr Rees Tapsell, Paul Gruar, Prof Warren Brookbanks, John Edwards