Interacting with the legal system can be stressful and intimidating for mental health professionals. This trusted book provides user-friendly strategies to help clinicians prepare for testimony in court and other legal proceedings. Using vivid case scenarios, the author explains legal terms and offers practical suggestions for avoiding pitfalls and managing ethical dilemmas. Clear guidelines are presented for record keeping, responding to subpoenas, preparing reports, and performing effectively on the stand as a fact witness or expert witness. Reproducible agreements and other sample documentation can be photocopied from the appendices or downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. New to This Edition * Incorporates updates in research, case law, statutes, and practice. * Examines the developing role of mental health professionals as forensic consultants. * Increased attention to ethical issues, such as dual relationships, professional boundaries, confidentiality, and competence. * An appendix with reflection questions that extend the scope of each chapter. * Explores special issues that may arise in cases involving children * Supplemental materials for course use--including an instructor's manual--are available at the author's website.

"This trusted, authoritative reference for mental health clinicians and students is now in a thoroughly revised third edition. Using vivid case scenarios, Allan E. Barsky explains when and why clinicians may be called to participate in legal proceedings. He describes and illustrates best practices for record keeping, responding to subpoenas, preparing reports, giving testimony as a fact witness or expert witness, managing ethical dilemmas, and reducing malpractice risks. Appendices feature reproducible agreements and other sample documentation. Readers can download and print these materials at the companion website, which also offers additional case examples, learning activities, and resources. A supplemental test bank is available on request to instructors who adopt the book for courses. Key Words/Subject Areas: mental health law, legal issues in clinical practice, psychotherapists, forensic psychology, psychologists, social workers, being an expert witness, dealing with malpractice suits, lawsuits, proceedings, confidentiality, protecting client records, family Audience: Clinical psychologists, social workers, counselors, psychiatrists, and child welfare professionals; also of interest to forensic psychologists and psychiatrists"--

Interacting with the legal system can be stressful and intimidating for mental health professionals. This trusted book provides user-friendly strategies to help clinicians prepare for giving testimony in court and participating in other legal proceedings. Using vivid case scenarios from family, criminal, and mental health law, the author explains legal terms and offers practical suggestions for avoiding pitfalls and managing ethical dilemmas. Thoroughly revised to incorporate updates in research, case law, statutes, and practice, the second edition addresses several new topics and includes an appendix with reflection questions extending the scope of each chapter. The book takes clinicians through the entire legal process, from first contact and the preparation stage to testimony and follow-up. It covers the nuts and bolts of how to respond to subpoenas, consult and strategize with attorneys, and develop sound record-keeping practices. Guidelines are presented for performing effectively on the stand as a fact witness or expert witness. The second edition gives increased attention to ethical issues, such as dual relationships, professional boundaries, confidentiality, and competence. It also explores special issues that may arise in cases involving children and examines the developing role of mental health professionals as forensic consultants. Reproducible agreements and other sample documentation can be photocopied from the appendices or downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. Supplemental materials for course use--including an instructor's manual--are available at the author's website. Written in an empathetic, down-to-earth style, this book is an invaluable resource for clinical psychologists, social workers, family therapists and counselors, psychiatrists, and child welfare professionals, as well as forensic psychologists and psychiatrists. It is widely used as a text in graduate-level courses dealing with clinical practice and the law.

Trainees consistently mentioned how helpful it was to have laws relevant to their clinical practice explained in a way that removed the mystery and anxiety associated with lawyers, courts, and judges. Each volume in the series sets forth, in a clear, straightforward, and user-friendly manner, pertinent legislation and court cases, covering why the law was written, what the law says, and how the law affects clinical practice.

Clinicians must practice medicine in conformity with regulatory requirements. That is the daily challenge, and those requirements have been founded on medical law. This book describes clinical law. A series of 62 brief commentaries are described, each setting out an important clinical legal case decided in an English court. The clinical relevance of the judgement is explained, together with how it should influence the care of the patient. Clinical readers are given skeleton guidance by their regulators, but almost no specific tuition as to how to apply it. This book sets out how clinical law has been applied in numerous cases, and thus provides guidance which is directly applicable to every clinician’s practice in the United Kingdom. Although most court cases concentrate on the medical aspects of patients’ care, the common currencies within clinical law touch on all clinical professions. Doctors, physiotherapists and others take consent every day; pharmacists must protect confidentiality; speech therapists consider the capacity of their patients; and nurses wrestle with discussions relating to whether their patients wish to be resuscitated The book is directed at members of the eight regulated clinical professions, the lawyers who deal with disputes, and all potential patients. About the Author Robert Wheeler, RCS MS LLB(Hons) LLM is a Consultant Neonatal and Paediatric Surgeon. He is the Associate Medical Director for the Department of Clinical Law, University Hospital of Southampton, Southampton Hampshire, England and Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Southampton. https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/HealthProfessionals/Clinical-law-updates/Clinicallawupdates.aspx

Tens of thousands of readers have relied on this leading text and practitioner reference--now revised and updated--to understand the issues the legal system most commonly asks mental health professionals to address. Highly readable, the volume demystifies the forensic psychological assessment process and provides guidelines for participating effectively and ethically in legal proceedings. Presented are clinical and legal concepts and evidence-based assessment procedures pertaining to criminal and civil competencies, the insanity defense and related doctrines, sentencing, civil commitment, personal injury claims, antidiscrimination laws, child custody, juvenile justice, and other justice-related areas. Case examples, exercises, and a glossary facilitate learning; 19 sample reports illustrate how to conduct and write up thorough, legally admissible evaluations. New to This Edition *Extensively revised to reflect important legal, empirical, and clinical developments. *Increased attention to medical and neuroscientific research. *New protocols relevant to competence, risk assessment, child custody, and mental injury evaluations. *Updates on insanity, sentencing, civil commitment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Social Security, juvenile and family law, and the admissibility of expert testimony. *Material on immigration law (including a sample report) and international law. *New and revised sample reports.