Remembering Judi Chamberlin. Author and advocate Judi Chamberlin, a pioneer of the movement for meaningful peer involvement in mental health services and for the rights of all recipients of psychiatric services died on Jan. 16, 2010 at her home in Arlington, Mass. We are very proud to count Judi among our founding board members. Despite the many demands from around the world for her time and talent, she always had room, even in the last months of her life, to be a full, active member of our board of directors. The disability movement will sorely miss Judi's unique voice; we at CPR will miss her leadership, her inspiration and her ability to help us see what we had missed and to always keep to the right path. First Circuit affirms approval of settlement agreement in Rolland v. Patrick. The Court of Appeals has affirmed the District Court's approval of a supplemental settlement agreement in a case involving discharging people with intellectual disabilities from inappropriate nursing home placements to community-based services. Opinion here. (Jan. 2010) Brief filed in ADA communication and access to courts case. CPR represents the National Aphasia Association and other amici in a case in which a trial court declined to allow a victim with a communication disability to testify against a criminal defendant whom she says abused her in a nursing home. (February 2010.) Find the brief here. Massachusetts Emergency Service Providers:  Providers have been chosen to provide emergency psychiatric services in the community to adults who are Medicaid or DMH clients. A list of Massachusetts ESP providers is available here. These services can be provided in a person's own home during the day, seven days a week, and are intended to be recovery-oriented and strength-based. Please email info@cpr-ma.org about your experiences, good and bad with ESPs. Review an annotated list of reported and unreported mental health related damage cases. Prison mental health cases: The Center is co-counsel in two law suits challenging the lack of alternatives to isolation for prisoners with serious mental illness. The complaint in a case in Massachusetts is available here. A complaint in a similar case in Michigan is here.  Restraint and seclusion of children and adolescents in Massachusetts -- a new monograph on the complex laws regulating restraint of youth in Massachusetts.   © Copyright 2007 The Center for Public Representation

The Center for Public Representation is a non-profit public interest law firm providing mental health law and disability law services.   The Center seeks to improve the quality of lives of people with mental illness and other disabilities through the systemic enforcement of their legal rights while promoting improvements in services for citizens with disabilities. Based in Massachusetts, with offices in Northampton and Newton, the Center is engaged in activities both in the state and throughout the nation. Through its systemic activities during the past 30 years, the Center has been a major force in promoting improvements in services for citizens with disabilities. The Center's experienced staff of attorneys and paralegals is committed to: Promoting positive change in the systems that serve people with disabilities Protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities Providing support, consultation and technical assistance to people with disabilities and their advocates Publishing books and articles and disseminating information which influence mental health law and disability law and help to change for the better the systems which serve people with disabilities. Documents and pleadings which may be helpful to attorneys litigating or considering the litigation of disability law related cases are available by following the links in the Litigation and Consulting Services section or by using the Search function. For information about books by CPR staff click the publications page.        • The Center was selected as a 2004 charity by the Catalogue for Philanthropy. Donate Now • For information about Western Massachusetts Social Security and SSI Appeals click this link. LITIGATION AND CONSULTING SERVICES      SEARCH