This offering focuses on civil mental disability law and examines the growth of this field of law and its ramifications for national and state public policy. Following an introduction, the topics to be discussed will include involuntary civil commitment, competency and guardianship, the right to refuse treatment, the right to treatment and habilitation, special education, and discrimination. The course will examine the law as it applies to persons with mental illness and developmental disabilities, and will include a consideration of substantive tests and procedural safeguards; voluntary admissions, discharge, transfers, and least restrictive alternatives; the professional deference doctrine and institutional conditions; self-determination and substituted decision-making; lawyers’ roles in mental disability systems; and the future of mental disability law. Students may take both this offering and Mental Disability and Criminal Law Seminar.

Richard Boldt; W. Lawrence Fitch;

Key to Codes in Course Descriptions

P: Prerequisite
C: Prerequisite or Concurrent Requirement
R: Recommended Prior or Concurrent Course