National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy
Jim Gottstein grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. After graduating from West Anchorage High School in 1971,
he attended the University of Oregon and graduated with honors (BS, Finance) in 1974.
Subsequently enrolling in Harvard Law School,
Jim completed his formal legal studies in 1978, graduating with a J.D. degree.
In addition to 25 years of private practice, emphasizing business matters and public land
law, Jim has been an attorney advocate for people diagnosed with serious mental illness
for over 20 years:
* Member of the Alaska Mental Health Board (AMHB), the statewide planning board for Alaska's mental health program from 1998 to 2004, where he served as chair of its Program Evaluation and Committee and of its Budget Committee, which makes formal recommendations regarding the state's mental health program budget.
* Served as plaintiffs' counsel on behalf of the mentally ill in Alaska in the billion dollar litigation over the state of Alaska's misappropriation of a one million acre trust granted for Alaska's mental health program. See, Weiss v. State, 939 P 2d 380 (Alaska 1997).
* Co-founded Mental Health Consumers of Alaska in 1986 and served on its board of directors for almost ten years.
* Co-founded the Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web in 1998. The Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web provides peer-support and a drop in center for mental health consumers in Anchorage.
* Supervising Attorney for Consumers Counsel, a project of the Alaska Mental Health Consumer Web that provided legal representation to mental health consumers.
* Provided pro bono legal services to mental health consumers in various matters throughout his almost 25 years in the active practice of law.
Currently, Mr. Gottstein is spending the bulk of his time on the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights on a volunteer basis. The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights' mission is to organize a serious, coordinated legal effort against forced psychiatric medication.