Upcoming Events

If there are any events that you think should be listed on this page please email us and let us know. Thank you.

During the fall 2008 semester, New York Law School (NYLS) will be offering a course in Therapeutic Jurisprudence, as part of its online, distance learning mental disability law program. This course -- which NYLS offered as an "in class" course regularly from 1992 until 2004 -- is now being added, for the first time to its online array of courses (see generally, www.nyls.edu/mdl). In this course, students explore the proposition that all aspects of the legal system (and all roles played by judicial actors) have some therapeutic impact on mentally disabled individuals who are litigants or are the subject of litigation. The course focuses on the empirical issues and social assumptions underlying the major mental disability legal doctrines developed in the past three decades in such areas as involuntary civil commitment law, rights of persons institutionalized because of disability, correctional law, sex offender law, the criminal trial process, legal education, the role of mental health courts, and international human rights law.

The weekly chat room (mandatory for class participation) will be offered on Wednesday evenings 8:45-10 pm, EST, and there will be two live full day seminars in NYC, on Saturday, 9/13, & on Sunday, 11/23 (these are mandatory for those who live nearby; for those who are a distance away, alternative assignments can be substituted with permission of the instructor). The class will be taught by NYLS Adjunct Prof. Deborah Dorfman, a frequent presenter at TJ symposia and the author of several TJ-related articles. Anyone interested in registration should contact Liane Bass, esq., Online Program Senior Administrator (lbass@nyls.edu).

The courses are appropriate for practicing lawyers, mental health professionals, human rights and mental health activists, advocates, and others with an interest in the subject matter. Courses can be taken for credit or Pass/Fail; if credit is sought, it can then be "grandparented" into credits for the new Masters in Mental Disability Law Studies that NYLS, pending ABA and NY State approval, hopes to start in the Fall 2008 term.

NYLS is also offering three other courses in the fall term: Survey of Mental Disability Law; Sex Offenders, and The Americans with Disabilities Act: Law, Policy and Practice. In the spring term, it will be offering five courses: International Human Rights and Mental Disability Law; Mental Health Issues in Jails and Prisons; Advocacy Skills in Cases Involving Persons with Mental Disabilities: The Role of Lawyers and Expert Witnesses; Mental Illness, Dangerousness, the Police Power and Risk Assessment; and Forensic Reports, the Role of Experts, and Forensic Ethics. Anyone interested in registration for any of these courses should contact Liane Bass as well.
The International Association of Law and Mental Health will hold its next international conference in New York City from June 29 to July 4th, 2009. The sessions will be held at the NYU School of Law. At the opening session of this meeting, which will be held on June 28th, 2009, Professor Bruce Winick, co-founder of therapeutic jurisprudence, will be presented with the Association's Pinel Award for outstanding contribution in the field of law and mental health.
As with the Padua meeting of the Association, held in June, 2007, we have been asked to organize a series of TJ panel presentations. These will be held back to back in the same room from June 29 to July 1, and we are writing to ask you to hold these dates and to consider participating in one of the TJ sessions. We will provide further information later concerning the conference, but would appreciate receiving preliminary indications of interest in participating and the topic you would like to speak on. We also would welcome an abstract of not more than 150 words describing your presentation.
We also have been asked to edit a symposium issue of the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry on therapeutic jurisprudence. We would be interested in receiving indications of interest in writing for this issue. We hope to begin reviewing manuscripts starting in November of 2008, although subsequent submissions will be welcome. The International Journal is a juried journal, and we look forward to receiving manuscripts of high quality on a variety of TJ topics. For more information about the symposium, contact Professors Wexler and Winick at:
Bruce J. Winick
Professor of Law and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
University of Miami
1311 Miller Drive - Room G477
Coral Gables, FL 33146
Office: (305) 284-3031
Fax: (305) 284-6619
email: bwinick@law.miami.edu
David B. Wexler
email: davidbwexler@yahoo.com
Monash University is hosting a conference entitled Children and the Law: International Approaches to Children and their Vulnerabilities. The conference will take place September 7-10, 2009 in Prato, Italy. For more information about this conference please see their website at http://www.med.monash.edu.au/socialwork/conference09/
The Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and Monash University will be presenting a conference entitled Non-Adversarial Justice: Implications for the Legal System and Society May 4-7, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. The conference organisers welcome the submission of abstracts of papers for consideration for presentation at the conference. A paper may be on any aspect or aspects of non-adversarial justice. Abstracts should be no longer than 150 words. Proposals for panels of 4-5 speakers on a particular aspect of non-adversarial justice are also welcome. The proposals should clearly outline the aspect of non-adversarial justice and key issues to be covered. Submission of abstracts and panel proposals should be accompanied by a proposed title of the presentation and the names, contact details and position of the presenter(s). Early expressions of interest and queries in relation to possible topics and the submission of abstracts and panel proposals are welcome. Abstracts should be submitted by email to: aija@law.monash.edu.au. Closing date for abstracts: 1 February 2010. More information about TJ panels will be announced closer to the date.