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Simple English definitions for legal terms

Mental Health

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A quick definition of Mental Health:

Mental health refers to a person's emotional and psychological well-being. It is important to take care of our mental health just like we take care of our physical health. Sometimes, people may need help with their mental health and there are laws that regulate how they can receive treatment. If someone is not able to make decisions for themselves, there are rules about how they can be helped. In some cases, mental health can also be considered in the criminal justice system to determine if someone is responsible for their actions.

A more thorough explanation:

Mental health refers to a person's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and behave in our daily lives. Mental health and the law interact in various ways, including:

  • Competence: This refers to a person's ability to make legal decisions, such as entering into a contract or participating in a legal proceeding.
  • Involuntary commitment: This is when a person is forced to receive mental health treatment against their will. There are legal standards that regulate this process to ensure that it is fair and just.
  • Insanity defense: This is a legal defense that can be used in criminal cases when a person's mental health affected their ability to understand the consequences of their actions.

For example, if a person with a mental illness is unable to understand the terms of a contract, they may be deemed incompetent to enter into the agreement. In cases where a person poses a danger to themselves or others due to their mental illness, they may be involuntarily committed to a mental health facility for treatment. In criminal cases, the insanity defense may be used if the defendant's mental illness affected their ability to understand the nature of their actions.

Mental Cruelty | Mental Suffering

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Anyone here from ND
CTCSH
16:47
No, just asians and new yorkers
babybunny
18:07
i’m new york adjacent so it’s nice to feel included
18:35
Would you guys consider going to Law school out of state or should I try and stay In-state for cost?
18:41
It depends tbh. Can you get scholarships do you want to practice in your state what’s your debt tolerance… idk there’s a lot that goes into applying that needs to be considered. Personally I don’t wanna practice in my state and the schools in my state don’t transfer to the area(s) I would prefer to practice in I’d have been screwed had I stayed in state so in my case I definitely consider going out of state haha
18:45
In State would be Illinois, I don't quite know where I want to be though. Not applying till end of 2024.
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:47
@TruthTheX: praying for your gulc uprising
19:15
Ty me too 🙏
19:15
@Silver: if you want to practice in IL then there’s likely no better school than the in state schools
@SpectacularDefiantMouse: yeah, like condemnedpuffygnome, I'm not really preparing for law school by taking some courses or anything like that. The only way I'm going to be preparing is by getting myself into a rhythm schedule-wise, well enough in advance of the first day of classes, that I think will be necessary for me to do well 1L.
I'm very much not in rhythm now. lol. But I've 3-ish months.
19:55
@Silver: Cost of attendance is what matters. $37K in-state tuition = $47K sticker price with a $10K scholarship elsewhere, $70K sticker with a $40K scholarship is better than either, $40K sticker with a $0 scholarship worse than both.
19:55
(Assuming placement etc. is comparable)
Congrats on Harvard, jb2028. Any reason you applied to A&M but not Texas at Austin? Seems odd.
19:58
@BankruptcyAndRestructuringLawIsCool: Family connection, they gave me a CAS waiver so it was free
Question for the chat about judicial internships (not externships). My understanding is that judicial internships (as opposed to externships) during the summer are unpaid. How, then, do people who get them pay living expenses during the summer? Do they just make loans stretch for 12 months when they're only meant for 9? I heard that some people supplement the internship with, e.g., a research assistant position with a law professor. But would such a person both do the internship and the RA position at the same time? And if so, is that too much work or feasible?
I don't know what the workload is really like for judicial internships and RA positions.
Also curious what other things people might do to supplement an unpaid judicial internship over the summer with something paid.
20:20
@BankruptcyAndRestructuringLawIsCool: Many schools will provide some type of stipend for unpaid summer roles with a public interest employer (defined broadly, often includes any gov or judicial job)
Right, I thought so. At BU, though, it appears that what's called BU's public interest project grant is not available to supplement judicial internships. And I think its public service summer funding is also limited. Oh well.
21:13
@BankruptcyAndRestructuringLawIsCool: FWIW they allude to some type of funding ("BU Law has implemented separate funding sources for judicial interns") in this packet https://www.bu.edu/law/files/2023/11/Public-Service-Summer-Funding-Applicant-Packet-2024.pdf
21:13
Although they don't give details, and as you note they don't guarantee funding to everyone (which is in line with other $ they offer, e.g. the LRAP)
21:14
Anyone know how hard it is to do pro bono work as a 1L for judges or fed gov in general in the D.C. market
21:14
Idk much about pro bono opportunities period but thinking I wanna try to get some work experience as soon as humanly possible
21:14
When I begin law school I mean
21:15
Lines up with BU's limited endowment: $81K per student a few years ago, i.e., enough to support a payout of about $3,250 per student per year at a 4% payout rate https://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2022/05/per-student-value-of-law-school-endowments-2021.html
21:17
Seems like they're trying to compete with other schools on program headlines (we fund X, Y, and Z and we have an LRAP) but the endowment can't really support that, so they have all these programs but don't guarantee funding. Would not rely on that if you have alternatives.
Thanks for those links. I'll give the public service summer funding information packet, in particular, a careful read. But yeah, your takeaway seems right.
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