A Guide for Those Who Serve
BOOK REVIEW: By Judge Timothy B. Taylor*
Review of Laws We Need to Know, by Baron Miller, J.D.
(published through IngramSpark and is available on Amazon and on Baron Miller’s website: https://www.baronmillerlaw.com.)
Some book reviews reveal as much about the reviewer as they do about the book being reviewed. This is not necessarily thunder-stealing or conceit. Sometimes it’s because of the impact of the work on the reviewer, or the personal connection the reviewer felt with the author’s efforts. Such a book is Baron Miller’s forthcoming Laws We Need to Know.
Mr. Miller, a long time Proxy Parent Foundation board member, has subtitled his work “Understanding Rules and Programs for Persons with Mental Illness.” The Foreword makes the author’s aims clear: Provide family members and other supporters “a resource which explains pertinent laws and legal procedures, and which is available at their fingertips.” Miller more than delivers, in concise and clear prose which is well organized and aided greatly by a detailed table of contents.
After a chapter devoted to the tensions between our traditional notions of liberty and privacy on the one hand and the sometimes frustrating need of the person trying to support the consumer of mental health services to get and give information on the other, Miller launches into chapters dealing with hospitalization and the criminal justice system. In the latter, he took me back to my days 15 years ago as a brand new judge, arraigning misdemeanor defendants and taking plea-bargained dispositions. As Miller astutely observes, then and now, many in the defendant pool would be better served with treatment options rather than fines and incarceration. And Miller yearns for the day when leaders have the courage to fund programs providing those options.
Miller’s treatment of government programs and estate planning led me to think about my own struggles with my son John, about whom I wrote in this column last year. The same is true of a later chapter on obtaining a probate conservatorship. The conservatorship process was foreign to me even as a judge, and although I did have the good sense to retain counsel to lead me through it, I probably would have asked better questions and had a clearer overall picture of what to expect if I had been the beneficiary of Miller’s guidance.
Subsequent efforts to obtain SSI for John fell prey to the same lack of experience (plus bureaucratic resistance by nameless, faceless representatives of the agency supposed to help). I found myself nodding my head when Miller suggested the retention of counsel for this task as well. Ultimately this was done, and John now receives what he was entitled to all along. And the trifecta was achieved when the same counsel was able to assist with a revision of an estate plan which incorporates a special needs trust. I rest easier knowing this is in place for John, and Miller emphasizes the attributes of this peace of mind.
Miller’s chapter on LPS conservatorships also struck a responsive chord. Several years ago I had the duty to preside over a very interesting jury trial in such a case. Although Miller correctly notes the decision to undertake such a trial is expensive, time-consuming, and otherwise fraught, the jury, in this case, did not find the question presented difficult based on the evidence. After a two day trial, the jury was out less than an hour, returning a 12-0 verdict.
Miller ends the book with a section on strategies for dealing with the often frustrating need to discuss the disabled person’s affairs with doctors and other authorities. This reminded me of a “shoe on the other foot” anecdote, humorous only in retrospect. In those days (and perhaps still), SSI eligibility required a doctor’s note confirming disability. Although John has been the way he is since birth and is entirely non-verbal, and all the paperwork reflected this, there were no exceptions to the regulations. So I dutifully took him to the appointment with the physician contracted to the government. They called him in, and I sent him back. About 5 minutes later, the doctor came out to the waiting area and said, “I can’t get him to answer my questions.” Welcome to my world, doc! I asked her for a piece of paper and wrote on it “I owe Doctor Smith $100,000.00.” I handed it to her and told her to hand it to John and have him sign it. She did, and he laboriously applied his childish scrawl. Needless to say, we got the certificate of disability.
As the foregoing makes clear, I only wish I had the benefit of Miller’s book when John was on the cusp of adulthood, instead of now when he is 31. Baron Miller has been serving others since his distinguished legal career began when this reviewer was still in high school. With this volume, his legacy of service is sure to continue for many years to come.
*Judge of the California Superior Court, County of San Diego. The views expressed in this, his third review for the Proxy Parent Newsletter, are not intended as a commercial endorsement and are Judge Taylor’s opinions alone.