University of Baltimore School of Law
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
Office of Disability and Access Services
Disability and Access Services is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities and works to ensure access to all campus facilities and programs.
Academic Center, Room 111
1420 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
map and directions
Phone: (410) 837-4755
Fax: (410) 837-4932
[email protected]
Clinics
Mental Health Law Clinic: Students represent patients in involuntary civil commitment hearings at the Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital. Students engage in client interview and counseling sessions, review medical records, and engage in case preparation and development by interviewing a psychiatrist and, often, family members. Representation culminates with an administrative hearing. Professional responsibility issues come alive in the ongoing representation of a mentally ill client seeking release from involuntary hospital confinement.
Courses
Law & Disabilities Seminar: The course will study legal issues as they relate to persons with disabilities. The primary focus will include federal special education law, public and private employment discrimination, architectural accessibility, decision-making rights in the community (competency, consent to medical treatment, sterilization of the disabled, civil commitment of the mentally ill and guardianship), and legal issues as they effect persons with AIDS.
Psychology, Child Development and Mental Health in Family Law Matters: This course is designed to help family law practitioners understand the mental health needs of adults and children, the stages of child development, and the roles they play in family law representation. Participants will learn how to engage mental health professionals and other court experts, interpret their reports and testimony, and interact with them effectively. The course also will help participants identify and develop the self-care skills necessary to maintain their own mental and emotional health when engaged in family law practice. Teaching methods will include presentation, discussion, and experiential learning activities.
Student Organizations
UB Disabled Law Student Association (DLSA): The UB Disabled Law Student Association works to create an open, sustainable, and accessible environment for students to raise awareness of and advocate for disability rights in the University of Baltimore School of Law community, the legal profession, and society at large. The UB DLSA will host events that are inclusive of both members of the disability community as well as allied partners. UB DLSA is a chapter member of the National Disabled Law Student Association (NDLSA).
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Contact/ Disability Resource Center
The Office of Educational Support and Disability Services
The Office of Educational Support and Disability Services (ESDS) coordinates services to assist students with disabilities in obtaining reasonable accommodations through an interactive process involving the student and the school.
SMC Campus Center
621 W. Lombard Street
Suite 304
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 706-5889
Fax: (410) 706-2865
Clinics
Civil Rights of Persons with Disabilities Clinic: The Civil Rights of Persons with Disabilities Clinic places you at the cutting edge of disability civil rights law. You will learn about a wide range of issues affecting adults and children with disabilities' access to public life, including public services, public accommodations, K-12 and post-secondary settings, employment, housing, and cyberspace. You will have the opportunity to interact with a variety of clients and to assist attorneys in all aspects of federal litigation, including initial client interviews, witness interviews, drafting pleadings, client counseling, negotiation, discovery, motion practice, trial, and appeal.
Courses
Employment Discrimination Law: This course will survey federal laws prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, age, and disability. It will examine the competing policy considerations underlying these laws’ enactment and enforcement, and will include significant attention to the impact of important recent developments on the law. A problem-based approach will allow students to enhance their understanding of the course materials and explore practical issues involved in litigating employment claims.
Mental Disability Law: This offering focuses on civil mental disability law and 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; 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.
Mental Disability and Criminal Law Seminar: This offering examines issues that arise in criminal cases involving persons with mental disability. Topic areas include: mental non-responsibility, criminal competencies, dispositional issues (including the death penalty), and expert witness consultation. Attention also will be paid to related issues in civil commitment. Course materials include not only cases and legal commentary, but also readings in psychiatry, psychology, and forensic mental health. Some class sessions will feature live case presentations hosted on-line by the staff of the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center and other state and local facilities that provide evaluations and treatment of persons with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities.