Michael J. Dale has been a member of the faculty at Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida since 1985, teaching courses in family law, juvenile law and in the family and juvenile clinic.  He also teaches litigation courses including civil procedure, conflicts of laws, evidence, trial advocacy, and international litigation.  Before joining the Nova faculty Dale spent time as a trial lawyer in private practice in Phoenix and was Executive Director of the Youth Law Center in San Francisco after serving as Attorney in Charge of the Special Litigation Unit of the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society of the City of New York.  He has been a practicing lawyer specializing in civil rights litigation including trials in state and federal courts for over 40 years.  He is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and New York as well as before the United States Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and district courts.

Professor Dale teaches in the National Institute for Trial Advocacy trial skills, motion practice, and deposition programs in both public and in-house settings as well as internationally.  He also focuses on NITA programs concerning children including trainings held in Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Utah, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania, New York at Hofstra University and Houston at the University of Houston.  For the past 25 years he has been program director for the NITA Florida Deposition Program.  In 2009 Professor Dale received the Robert Oliphant Award from NITA for his service to the organization. An active litigator himself, he has been a consultant to federal and state agencies on civil rights issues and to law firms on litigation matters.

Professor Dale is the author of over seventy-five articles focusing primarily on litigation and juvenile and children’s law topics. He is also the author of the two-volume text, Representing the Child Client, published by Matthew Bender Co.  He speaks regularly to professional groups on children’s law and litigation topics.

Course Description:

Every state including Florida has a mandatory child neglect abuse reporting statute. Dentists are among the mandatory reporters in all jurisdictions. It will be helpful to dentists to understand how child abuse reporting laws work and more specifically what are the obligations of dentists as health care professionals. This one-hour Zoom presentation shall first focus on whether, when, how, and, where to report. It will then briefly discuss what happens after a report is made, and issues of anonymity and liability. Finally, if time permits there will be a short period for questions and answers. The objective of the presentation is to provide dentists with a clear understanding of their obligations under child abuse reporting statutes.

Course Objectives:

⦁ To understand the definition of dental neglect
⦁ To understand the definition of abuse
⦁ To understand the process of reporting abuse and neglect
⦁ To understand what happens after a report is made