A Model for training graduate psychology students to become legally informed clinicians

A legally informed clinician is one who possesses sufficient knowledge of mental health law to recognize and address legal issues that arise in clinical practice (Bersoff et al., 1997). This article argues that students, programs, and the communities they serve have much to gain by training graduate students to become legally informed clinicians. The authors describe how one clinical psychology PhD program has infused the principle of legally informed training into its training model and the perceived impact of legally informed training on student outcomes (e.g., internship match rates), training clinic resources (e.g., revenue), and community mental health services (e.g., providing access to services that may not otherwise be available).