Mental Health Litigation Division Appellate Panel Certification Training

Committee for Public Counsel Services
Mental Health Litigation Division
Appeals Unit

January 2021

The Mental Health Litigation Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services is now accepting applications for the Mental Health Litigation Division (“MHLD”) Appellate Panel Certification Training

Qualifications:

Applicants must have the following minimum qualifications:

(i)        Demonstrated proficiency in legal research and writing; and

(ii)       At least one of the following:

1. 1. 1. Two years of mental health trial experience;
      2. Primary authorship of two or more appellate briefs in other practice areas;
      3. A recent appellate clerkship, substantial editing experience for a law journal, or publication of a law journal article.

Admission into the training is based on qualifications and current availability of mentors, such that not all applicants who meet minimum qualifications will be admitted.

Required Training:

Admitted applicants must attend the virtual MHLD appellate training program that includes live (synchronous) Zoom sessions on the following dates, as well as completion of asynchronous assignments in between live sessions:

Training Orientation- Thursday, February 18, 2021 from 3:45 – 5:00

Day 1 – Monday, February 22, 2021 from 9:00 – 12:30

Day 2 – Thursday, February 25, 2021 from 9:00 – 12:30

Day 3 – Thursday, March 4, 2021 from 9:00 – 12:30

Day 4 – Tuesday, March 9, 2021 from 9:00 – 12:30

Note that the total time commitment will approximate that of previous live trainings, i.e. approx.   21 hours.

The registration fee for the training is $150, which includes all materials. Please do not submit payment until after receiving confirmation that you have been accepted into the training, at which point you will receive payment and registration instructions.

Application Submission Instructions:

Please click here to download the application.

To be considered, you must submit a completed application via e-mail to ktalley@publiccounsel.net by January 22, 2021. 

Your application must include:

(i)        Answers to all questions in the application

(ii)        A current resume;

(iii)        Two writing samples totaling no more than 100 pages.  If you are submitting a              brief, please include the entire brief, including the cover page and tables of                     contents and authorities.  If your samples include the name or work of other              attorneys, you must identify the portions you wrote and explain whether                     anyone else edited your work.

Further Information:

For further information regarding the appellate panel certification process, please contact Karen Talley at ktalley@publiccounsel.net.