Description

The Law and Psychiatry Clinic provides free forensic psychiatric examinations, generally at the request of the attorney who represents the person being evaluated. The clinic also is available for court-appointment. Each semester, the clinic enrolls four or five law students, an equal number of third year psychiatric residents, and a child psychiatry fellow. The psychiatric residents and child psychiatry fellows are in residency and post-residency programs at the medical school and conduct evaluations under the supervision of University Medical School faculty. Each resident or fellow is teamed with a law student, working under the supervision of William Mitchell College of Law faculty.

The resident-law student team works the case up by collecting medical and legal records and researching the legal context for the evaluation. The team presents the case to the clinic, which develops a plan for the evaluation interview. The law students work as liaisons to the attorney requesting the evaluation, observe evaluations (with appropriate consents), and participate in "case conferences," in which the psychiatric findings and applicable legal standards are discussed. When requested by the referring attorney, the clinic produces an evaluation report, signed by the appropriate resident and supervising psychiatrist. Courtroom testimony is provided by the resident or fellow and, if needed, by the supervising psychiatrist. Evaluations are conducted either at William Mitchell College of Law or on-site in correctional or mental health institutions.