DPA 2025 Annual Conference

During this session, participants will learn strategies and techniques to incorporate the client’s story into a compelling mitigation argument throughout the second phase of a non-capital trial or sentencing hearing. Rules 1.1 and 1.3 require that we are competent and diligent and thus we must zealously represent our clients even after a guilty verdict. By using interview and investigatory techniques we can uncover stories of our client’s past and present that can be crafted into a compelling mitigation story to help a judge and/or a jury to believe our clients deserves a brighter future.

Discuss collecting information for each of the six ASAM dimensions using the assessment tool and using the information from that assessment to assign a severity rating score for each dimension. Review using all dimension rankings as a whole to make a recommendation for appropriate level of care and setting for each client.

This session reviews the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria and what they reveal about a client's condition regarding substance use and co-occurring disorders. How this information is used in preparing a criminal defense case is then discussed.