Best Practices in Navigating the Criminal Legal System With Clients With Mental Health Challenges: Legal Perspective | Part II

This session will focus on best legal practices, specifically trauma-informed advocacy for treatment-focused outcomes, with an emphasis on disrupting stigma and ensuring the health and safety of justice-involved individuals in both criminal and family law settings. The program will equip attorneys with practical tools and strategies to more effectively represent clients with mental health challenges across a range of legal contexts.

 By the end of this CLE, participants will be able to:

• Communicate effectively and empathetically with clients with mental health challenges using non-stigmatizing, trauma-informed approaches 
• Identify and apply best practices to safeguard the health and safety of incarcerated clients 
• Navigate both the criminal legal system and family court on behalf of clients with mental health needs, with a focus on treatment court dispositions 
• Understand current innovations and emerging practices designed to support clients with mental health challenges throughout the legal process

Presenters: 

Katherine LeGeros Bajuk, Esq. 

New York County Defender Services

New York, New York 

Jeffrey Berman, Esq. 

Legal Aid Society

New York, New York 

Aubrey Rose, Esq.

Family Defense Practice, Brooklyn Defender Services

Brooklyn, New York 

This program is sponsored by the Committee on Mandated Representation, the Criminal Justice Section, and the New York Woman's Bar Association