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Abstract:
Primarily because of stigma, one of the unanswered questions in legal education is how many in the Academy have severe mental illnesses. When Professor Elyn R. Saks of the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California published The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness about her secret life with schizophrenia, mental illness in legal education finally had a face. Now, it has another representative. In Walking the Tightrope of Bipolar Disorder: The Secret Life of a Law Professor, Professor James T. R. Jones of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville writes about his life, and successful career in legal academics, with the secret that he has bipolar disorder. He discusses why he went public with his condition; offers hope to others in legal education who have severe mental diseases; and joins Professor Saks in inviting those colleagues to consider, after due reflection, joining the fight against stigma by disclosing their own conditions. Hopefully, his story will help create a world in legal academia free of stigma and discrimination against those with severe mental illness.

bipolar disorder, manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, legal education, law and mental disability, mental health law, law professors, legal academics, Academy, mental illness, law and disability, health law, Elyn Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

Abstract:
Elyn R. Saks is Associate Dean for Research and Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. She graduated with a B.A. in philosophy as class valedictorian at Vanderbilt University; earned a M. Litt. in philosophy from Oxford University; and got her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She has written three books and numerous articles and book chapters on mental health-related issues. She has won major awards for her scholarship. Overall, she has excelled in legal academia. She also has had schizophrenia for most of her life. Her story, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, is a fascinating look at life coping with the most severe mental illness. Her memoir is frightening, gripping, courageous, inspiring, and ultimately triumphant. It has garnered numerous rave reviews; Time magazine ranked it ninth among the ten best nonfiction books of 2007. This reviewer is particularly well suited to assess Professor Saks' saga because he is a successful legal academic who, unbeknownst to his colleagues until recently, has for over twenty-five years had the serious mental illness bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic-depressive illness), the worst of the mood disorders which rank just behind thought disorders like schizophrenia in compilations of severe mental illnesses. His review reflects his special insight into Professor Saks' journey through life with a mental disease, including that he gained during five psychiatric hospitalizations and the same stigma concerns that haunted Professor Saks for many years. He concludes her book is a must-read for anyone interested in law faculty or students with psychiatric conditions as it proves one can achieve a great deal in legal academia despite having a severe mental illness.

schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, manic-depressive illness, legal education, law and mental disability, mental health law, law professors, legal academics, mental illness, Elyn Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

Abstract:
Professor Elyn R. Saks is a chaired professor at the University of Southern California Law School. She was valedictorian at Vanderbilt University, has a degree from Oxford University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. She has written numerous works on mental health issues.

Professor James T. R. Jones is a professor at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. He graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia and second in his class from Duke Law School. He worked at a Wall Street law firm, clerked for two federal judges, taught at the University of Chicago Law School, and is a noted expert on domestic violence.

What do Professors Saks and Jones have in common? Both have severe mental illnesses: schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, respectively. Both have been hospitalized for their conditions and take drugs that cause weight gain, tardive dyskinesia, high cholesterol, and nocturnal drooling. Severe Mental Illness in the Academy: A Secret Revealed discusses their secrecy about their diseases and their independent decisions to go public to show that people with severe mental illnesses can be highly successful law professors. Together, they are the face of severe mental illness in the Academy.

bipolar disorder, manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia, legal education, law and mental disability, mental health law, law professors, legal academics, Academy, mental illness, law and disability, health law, Elyn Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

Abstract:
The death of Anna Nicole Smith has highlighted an ancient legal issue -- who decides the place and method of disposal of the bodies of the dead. From antiquity, the law was ordinarily careful to honor the written or oral directions of the deceased. If a decedent did not express a preference, then burial was determined by the surviving spouse, and if there were none by the next of kin. In the Smith case, a dispute arose between her mother and the guardian of her infant daughter over where she would be buried. A Florida court ultimately effectively ignored their arguments and chose the place where Smith clearly orally had said she wanted to be buried. The abstracted article concluded that Kentucky would reach a like result, as there the express wishes of the decedent, testamentary or otherwise, control disposition of a body. Attorneys should encourage their clients to state, preferably in writing but at least orally, their choice for burial arrangements.

Anna Nicole Smith, burial, dead bodies, preference of deceased prevails when issue is disposition of dead body

Abstract:
At common law, landowners had no duty to protect those off their premises from harm caused by natural vegetation on their land. Courts feared that without this rule a landowner might be ruined merely for leaving property in a state of nature. Gradually, some jurisdictions moved away from this position. The California Supreme Court completely abolished the old natural condition exemption from landowner liability. Other states took a more moderate approach, and upheld the traditional doctrine in cases of rural land while viewing trees alongside urban roadways differently. Kentucky had not addressed the subject until a recent case where a large dead tree on an urban lot fell onto an adjacent landowner's garage. The Kentucky Court of Appeals held that a landowner in an urban or heavily populated area has a duty to others outside of his or her land to exercise reasonable care to prevent an unreasonable risk of harm arising from defective or unsound trees on the premises. The Kentucky Supreme Court has granted discretionary review of this decision, so Kentucky's position on the off premises liability issue is ripe for final decision. The abstracted article suggests that at minimum Kentucky should hold urban landowners responsible for harm trees on their property cause when they fall off their land. The article concludes Kentucky should adopt the rule of the California Supreme Court that landowners always have a duty to protect those off their premises against natural conditions on their land.

torts, landowner liability to those off the premises for harm caused by natural conditions on the land, duty, off premises liability, natural conditions on land, landowner liability

Abstract:
Recently I wrote a review for the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper of Professor Elyn Saks' memoir of life while secretly suffering from schizophrenia. I did not mention the parallels between my life and Professor Saks'. I also have a successful career as a law professor. I accomplished it while harboring the secret I have the severe mental illness bipolar disorder (formerly known as "manic-depressive illness"). Why did I hide my condition for so long? Mainly I kept quiet due to the fear of stigma. Sadly, people today stigmatize more than they did fifty years ago. They need to realize that a history of mental illness is not a moral failing, and that it is a chronic condition like any "physical" disease. Although most with severe mental illness pose no threat to anyone, stereotypes unduly link violence with mental illness. The vast majority of those with mental illness like Professor Saks and me are not violent; a very small portion of the level of violence in society is attributable to people with mental disorders. Why have I now chosen to tell my story? I write, as did Professor Saks, to show people can be effective members of society in high-level and often stressful jobs despite their psychiatric conditions. I wish to be accepted for who I am, a person with a full and satisfying professional and personal life, and not have to endure stigma or doubt as to my ability to perform. While not all with mental disorders flourish as Professor Saks and I have done, we show what is possible. How many other successful individuals with mental illness who for now remain silent, probably due to stigma concerns, are out there? Perhaps each of us should look at those in the offices next to us, or our friends and neighbors, and wonder which of these people secretly live with a severe mental condition.

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, manic-depressive illness, mental illness, legal academics, law professors, stigma, law and mental disability, legal education, mental health law, Elyn Saks, Saks, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness

Abstract:
What do celebrity Anna Nicole Smith; Godfather of Soul James Brown; baseball immortals Ted Williams and Kirby Puckett; artist Mark Rothko; some United States service members killed in the Iraq War; and even the Reverend and Mrs. Billy Graham have in common? All have been the objects of disputes over who controls final disposition of their mortal remains. Those, in turn, have brought into public scrutiny an ancient legal issue - who decides the place and method of disposal of the bodies of the dead. From antiquity, the law was ordinarily careful to honor the written or oral directions of the deceased. If a decedent did not express a preference, then burial was determined by the surviving spouse, and if there were none by the next of kin. The abstracted article reviews the various disputes involving those listed above, as well as some less famous individuals. It concludes attorneys strongly should encourage their clients to state, either in their wills or other written documents, their choice for burial arrangements. Lacking that, they at least orally should indicate their desires on that subject to their next of kin. Doing so can avoid unseemly post-mortem disputes which can turn what should be a solemn and dignified process into a circus-like sideshow event.

Anna Nicole Smith, James Brown, Ted Wiliams, Kirby Puckett, Mark Rothko, Reverand Billy Graham, dead bodies, burial rights, determination of place of burial, burial right disputes, interment of dead bodies

Abstract:
When one considers law school courses whose subject matters relate to domestic violence issues, many come to mind, including domestic relations/family law, criminal law, women's issues and the law, etc. Upon reflection, however, it becomes apparent that one of the most mundane of courses, torts, is fraught with topics that can be taught through exploring domestic violence situations. Indeed, a considerable number of tort issues could be taught almost exclusively by using domestic violence cases as a starting point. Many treatises and law review articles have been written about various aspects of the interaction of torts and domestic violence both in the United States and abroad. This paper will attempt to explore how domestic violence issues can relate to the ordinary first year torts course, and in the process point out some of the many torts topics which can be connected to this overwhelming social problem.

domestic violence, law school, torts curriculum, teaching, family violence