June 16, 2021 – Mental health law crosses many practices areas, according to Amanda Pirt Meyer, co-author of a new book, Mental Health Law in Wisconsin: A Guide for Legal and Healthcare Professionals, published by State Bar of Wisconsin PINNACLE®.

An attorney at Haskins Short & Brindley LLC, based in Monona, Pirt Meyer focuses her practice on social security disability law, guardianships, estate planning, probate law, elder law, and special needs trust. Mental health is often an issue.

“My brand of client is someone that has at least two or three completely distinct issues that are slightly interrelated and this is very common with elder, disability, estate planning, guardianship kind of work,” she said. “This particular book pulls together a lot of these little issues and many different areas of law and winds them all together.”

She said a typical client may have powers of attorney or estate planning needs, such as special trusts for people who are having health issues. Pirt Meyer said mental health issues encompass many different kinds interactions with the world at large.

For instance, in social security disability cases, she said “you really have to think a little more creatively in order to illustrate what these folks are going through and the kind of adaptions they've had to make and their hardship navigating the universe.”

“There are times when these things come in when you are dealing with a torts file, maybe there's an ethics violation an OLR issue,” Pirt Meyer said.

“You may have someone who may be dealing with consent and whether they have capacity. Or they've been legally adjudicated as incompetent.”

She said the book provides a practical guide for mental health issues that may come up in many areas of law, addresses how the law helps or protects those people to keep them safe, or get better treatment when they can’t make decisions on their own.

The book covers the ins and outs of:

• involuntary civil commitments;

• Chapter 980 commitments,

• guardianships,

• representing youth with mental health issues;

• mental health and criminal law;

• legal duties and responsibilities of mental health professionals;

• discrimination against people with mental health illness and intellectual disabilities;

• benefits for people with mental disabilities; and

• treatment courts.

Pirt Meyer says there are a lot of state and federal laws and regulations that apply to mental health issues, and this new book is the first Wisconsin-based resource that brings it all together in one place for lawyers and health care professionals.