Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

agreement—coming to mutual accommodation—is increasingly important as summoning formalstate power becomes more and more clumsy and expensive. But the potential of contracts as ameans to displace power in human problem solving is constrained by a legalistic mentalitytoward contracts itself. Lawyers sometimes cannot imagine what contracts could become,because they regard contracting so narrowly. Over the past century, for many lawyers the threerelationships of contracting have conflated into essentially one: the legal. The interpersonalrelationship of the parties has certainly been marginalized. But even the particulars of theunderlying economic exchange tend to be seen as relatively insignificant to the legal status of theagreement. Lawyers thus tend to regard contracts one-dimensionally, as essentially a set of statebackedrights to be marshalled by one person for potential use against another. This adversarial,rights-and-power approach to contracting may be stifling the broader potential of the contractingprocess. “Collaborative Contracting” is a way to change lawyers’ mentalities toward contracts,enhancing the economic and personal relationships that always have been important to contracts.My proposed presentation first would describe the need for more collaborative contracting, andthen offer suggestions for concrete steps by which all three relationships of contracting might bestrengthened.Children as Subjects of Mental Health Research: Legal, Ethical and TherapeuticJurisprudence (TJ) PerspectivesJan C. Costello, Loyola Law School (jan.costello@lls.edu)This presentation explores the legal, ethical and therapeutic issues involved when children andadolescents are subjects of mental health research, including experimental trials of medicationsor other treatment modalities. Legal and ethical issues include initial informed consent,confidentiality protections and limitations, and the choice to continue or discontinueparticipation. Key questions discussed include: From a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective, areexisting legal protections and clinical protocols adequate or unduly burdensome? Do they enablevaluable research in mental health to be done while providing genuine benefits to the researchsubjects? Moreover, where subjects are not likely to benefit from the research – are there stilltherapeutic reasons for permit the child to participate?24.5: The Current Position of Domestic Partnerships in South Africa andWhether the Proposed Recognition Thereof Will Have the Desired TherapeuticOutcomeEnid Coetzee, University of Johannesburg (ecoetzee@uj.ac.za)Cohabitation is not a legally recognised relationship in South African law. The relationship, alsoreferred to as a domestic partnership, is recognised in certain instances. The South African courts444