Mercedes Perez was awarded one of the Mental Health Legal Committee’s 20th anniversary advocacy awards. The award recognizes excellence in advocacy in mental health law. The other recipients of this award were Jennifer Chambers and Lucy Costa (Empowerment Council) and lawyer Christel Francis.
The Mental Health Legal Committee (MHLC) was formed in 1997 by a group of lawyers and community legal workers practising in the area of mental health law. The MHLC’s guiding principles emphasize the liberty and autonomy interests of mental health consumers and self-identified psychiatric survivors. Lawyer members of the MHLC advocate for clients at all levels of courts in both civil and criminal contexts, and before a broad range of administrative tribunals.