The unique roles that defense counsel plays for his or her client--spokesperson, translator, and court champion--become even more important when the client suffers from a mental illness. The Consensus Project addresses the key steps defense counsel need to take to effectively represent clients with a mental illness, including gaining speedy access to existing mental health information, being aware of the mental health resources in the community, being familiar with relevant laws, and working with prosecutors, judicial officers, and other stakeholders to respond collaboratively to these cases.

Though the Consensus Project encourages a systemic approach to improving the criminal justice system response to people with mental illness, we recognize the need for defense counsel to focus on the issues that most directly pertain to their roles. To that end, we recommend that defense counsel focus on the following sections: