Program description
The fellowship will prepare the fellow to competently function at the interface of psychiatry and the law in both the civil and criminal arenas. Areas of focus include the performance of civil and criminal forensic psychiatry assessments, consultations to attorneys and agencies, testimony in deposition and trial, evaluation and treatment of mentally disordered juveniles and adults involved in a variety of legal settings such as sex offender programming, and consultations to other clinicians on psycholegal and ethical issues such as risk assessment and risk management.

The curriculum will provide in-depth multidisciplinary instruction in fundamental topics in criminal, mental health, and family law. The Mental Health Law Program will be taught in collaboration with the Saint Louis University School of Law, which has the top-rated health law program in the country according to U.S. News and World Report. The fellow will also be exposed to methods of trial advocacy and will learn to conduct legal research. There will be a year long seminar on landmark legal cases that have directed and shaped forensic psychiatry in the United States. The Clinical Forensic Psychiatry Seminar, a year long seminar, will address relevant topics in forensic psychiatry. Additionally, the fellow will gain academic experience by serving as assistant director of the forensic psychiatry seminar for the adult psychiatry residents and by completing a scholarly project on the topic of his or her choosing with resulting presentation or publication quality paper.