Practice Resources
November 2011
From left to right: Juvenile & Child Welfare Law Section Council Chair Michael F. Kilkelly and Vice Chair Marlies Spanjaard.
Note from Juvenile & Child Welfare Law Leadership
Welcome to the new bar year for the Juvenile & Child Welfare
Law Section. The chair for the section council this year is Michael
Kilkelly, a juvenile law practitioner with an office in Malden. The
vice-chair is Marlies Spanjaard, coordinator of the EdLaw Project
for the Youth Advocacy Department of CPCS.
We have had two meetings of the section council so far, and we
have decided to start with a focus on two areas:
- The area of juvenile competency, and trying to draft
legislation covering that issue; and
- Continuing legal education, and trying to develop both programs
and conferences for practitioners.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 9, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., at the
MBA, 20 West St., Boston. All section members are invited to all
section council meetings. The section council can use volunteers to
help with all our projects and initiatives, and we are always open
to new ideas.
Michael F. Kilkelly, chair
Marlies Spanjaard, vice chair
Juvenile & Child Welfare Law Section Council
Upcoming Juvenile & Child Welfare Law section council meeting
As a member of the Juvenile &
Child Welfare Law section, you are invited to attend the section
council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at
the MBA, 20 West St., Boston.
As a member of this section, you are
invited to attend the section council meetings and section members
are encouraged to network and discuss pending issues from
legislation, statutes, resolutions, cases and reports and are urged
to alert the section/division council of any legislation, statutes,
resolutions, cases and reports which might require our attention.
Click here to contact Juvenile & Child
Welfare Section Council members.
Juvenile & Child Welfare Law Updates
Juvenile
Competency
At our September meeting, Dr. Kimberly Larson, Ph.D., J.D., an
assistant professor in the Psychiatry Department of the University
of Massachusetts Medical School, presented on issues relating to
the competency to stand trial of juveniles. Larson and her
colleagues at UMass Medical School have been assisting various
states who have been looking at their juvenile competency statutes
and drafting new legislation. As a section council, we expressed
interest to Larson in beginning such an effort for Massachusetts,
and she offered to provide us with further materials.
Science
Manual for Judges
A new guidebook for judges and legal professionals, the
Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, is now available,
replacing the previous edition published in 2000.
The 1,038-page manual explains scientific concepts, shows how
evidence can be manipulated, and cites judicial decisions. It's
free for downloading and online reading, and there is a $79.95
paperback version.
The manual is available here.
Juvenile & Child Welfare Law Issues of Interest
House of
Delegates
The issue of mandatory CLE was brought before the House of
Delegates at its September meeting, and it was voted to postpone
action until the January meeting. A task force was formed to
solicit comments and suggestions. The section council will have the
opportunity to discuss mandatory CLE and provide the input of our
section to the task force and the House of Delegates.
CPCS Quarterly
Report
The first quarterly report of CPCS to the House and Senate
Committees on Ways and Means has been submitted. These reports are
required by the recent budget which expanded the number of public
counsel employed by CPCS.
The report is available
here.
Continuing Legal Education opportunities
The section council has discussed planning programs and
conferences in the areas of juvenile delinquency and child welfare
law, and in subjects that would be of interest in both areas. Some
of the topics discussed have been probation violations, education
issues, juvenile mental health and new legislation.
Our CLE coordinator is Wendy
Wolf and she can be reached at
[e-mail wwolf].
Put your name out there
Every month the MBA publication Lawyers Journal
includes articles from each section for the MBA membership. The
articles may pertain to statutes, rulings, or legislation or may
provide techniques and tips of practice and procedure or other
practice-related issues. Anyone interested in writing an article
for our section should contact Maria Ventullo at [e-mail mventullo].
The Lawyers Journal is now seeking articles on legal
specialties, pertinent to juvenile and child welfare practice for a
special legal section in the December issue. Submissions
should be 800-1,000 words in length and due by Monday, Nov.
14. Any member of the Juvenile & Child Welfare section
is invited to submit. Articles should be submitted to Christina P.
O'Neill, custom publications editor, The Warren Group at [e-mail coneill].
The MBA is on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Join the conversation today
The Massachusetts Bar Association is pleased to announce its
official Facebook fan page. To "Like" our new Facebook page, click here and please suggest your friends
"Like" our page as well.
The addition of Facebook means the MBA has a presence on three
social networking platforms, including LinkedIn, launched in January 2010, and Twitter,
launched in July 2009. All three social media platforms feature
information about the MBA including CLE, events and news.
As an MBA member, we encourage you to both post items of
interest to you, and the greater legal community, on these pages
and comment on items already posted.