Astor Simovitch Law founder will show behavioral health professionals how Florida law gives families a legal path to treatment when a loved one refuses help
— Mark Astor, founder of Astor Simovitch Law and one of Florida’s leading voices on behavioral health law, will deliver a keynote address at the 5th Edition of Addiction World Conference (AWC 2026), held September 18 to 20 at the Hilton Garden Inn Miami Dolphin Mall in Miami.
Astor’s keynote, “How Florida Law Can Be Used to Save Families Whose Loved Ones Are Suffering from Substance Use, Mental Illness and Failed Attempts at Recovery,” takes on a question that clinicians and treatment providers face constantly: what a family can do when someone in crisis refuses the help that could save their life.
For the addiction-medicine and behavioral health professionals who make up the AWC audience, the legal system is often the missing piece. A patient leaves treatment against advice. A family has tried everything and run out of options.
Astor’s talk maps the tools Florida law provides in those moments: the Marchman Act, which lets a court order assessment, stabilization, and treatment for a person with a substance use disorder; the Baker Act, which governs emergency mental health evaluation; and guardianship, which gives a family legal authority to make safe decisions for a loved one whose mental health or addiction has stripped that ability away. He also covers where the criminal justice system collides with behavioral health, and how the right legal move can keep a person in treatment instead of stuck in the wrong system.
Astor argues that legal intervention and clinical care are not at odds but belong together. Because he worked as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney before building his practice, he understands how the criminal justice system and the behavioral health system collide, and how to keep a person from getting stuck in the wrong one. That perspective, he says, is what treatment professionals can use to help families act before a crisis becomes a tragedy.
“Families call us as a last resort, after years of relapses, overdoses, and treatment that did not hold,” Astor said. “They are not looking for a lawyer. They are looking for someone who understands what they have been living through and who knows how the system actually works.”
Astor brings an unusual vantage point to the topic. He began his legal career in 1994 as an Assistant State Attorney in Palm Beach County, where he served as Chief of two County Court Divisions and handled thousands of cases in felony trial divisions before entering private practice. In 2016 he founded Drug and Alcohol Attorneys, in 2017 he co-founded Astor Simovitch Law with his wife, Audra Simovitch, and in 2020 he founded Baker Act Attorneys to advocate for people wrongfully detained in Florida’s mental health system.
A frequent legal analyst for FOX News, LiveNOW from FOX, and local CBS and ABC affiliates, Astor is admitted to practice in Florida, the District of Columbia, and Massachusetts, as well as before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He is also the author of “Breaking the Cycle,” a plain-language guide that walks families through their options under the Marchman Act when a loved one refuses help.
“My goal at this conference is to give the professionals in that room another set of tools,” Astor said. “When a family tells you there is nothing left to try, that is usually not true. Very often the law is the thing no one told them about.”
Now in its fifth edition, the Addiction World Conference is organized by Precision Global Conferences under the theme “Global Perspectives on Addiction: Trends, Treatment, and Policy.” The hybrid event brings together psychiatrists, addiction specialists, researchers, and clinicians for keynote addresses, workshops, and networking sessions. More information is available at addictionworldconference.com.
About Astor Simovitch Law
Astor Simovitch Law is a Boca Raton, Florida firm focused exclusively on behavioral health law. The firm helps families navigate Marchman Act petitions, Baker Act proceedings, guardianship, and the legal intervention process when a loved one is in a mental health or addiction crisis and refuses help. Founded by Mark Astor and Audra Simovitch in 2017, it is, as Astor describes it, the first firm in the country built solely around this work. Families can reach the firm at 561-419-6095 or at mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com.
Contact Info:
Name: Jessica Douglas
Email: Send Email
Organization: Astor Simovitch Law
Address: 1200 N Federal Hwy #200, Boca Raton, FL 33432
Phone: 561-419-6095
Website: https://mentalhealthaddictionlawfirm.com
Release ID: 89200010
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