Page 266 - 2024 Orientation Manual

attendance of judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals - most of whom requested annual
cross-trainings on the topic, which the committee plans to continue. In 2023, the Committee
partnered with the Louisiana Mental Health Association to offer education on the intersection of
mental health and the criminal justice system and programs that divert people with mental illness
to community-based treatment and resources. The sessions were worth both CLE and CEU and
presented a unique opportunity for the legal and mental health community to come together to
learn, cross-train, and collaborate - all of which were recommendations that came out of the
Committee’s 2022 Criminal Justice Summit last March. In 2024 the Committee continues to look
at this issue as well as considering other topics for a Summit in 2025.

Legal Services for Persons with Disabilities (LSPD) Committee, Co-Chairs Debra
Weinberg, and Chris Edmonds
The LSPD Committee was established to provide members of the bench, bar, and the public with
a greater understanding of the legal needs and rights of persons with disabilities, to better meet the
legal needs of persons with disabilities, and to increase the knowledge that persons with disabilities
have regarding their rights and resources. The Committee established the Disabilities Assistance
Network (DAN) to help connect attorneys able to provide representation on areas of the law related
to disabilities with the public or colleagues looking to make a referral. Recently, Committee
members have been updating the directory. The Committee also has several ongoing education
initiatives designed to educate members of the public, judges, and attorneys, including trainings
on social security appeals, special needs trusts, the recent legislative changes involving
Interdictions proceedings, and the newly recognized legal status alternative, Supportive Decision
Making. The LSPD Committee also collaborated with the Children’s Law and Language Access
Committees to provide interview skills trainings for the students of LSU. The Committee's current
focus is on court accessibility, and supporting the work of the Louisiana Supreme Court’s Office
of Accessibility

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