Top Ten Reasons to Join "Wills for Heroes"

I write this blog entry on a Saturday morning at the Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg Campus) during a "Wills for Heroes" session, which offers free wills and other estate planning documents to first responders and their spouses or domestic partners.

Document preparation is accomplished by volunteer lawyers using custom-designed legal drafting software.  Client execution of documents occurs before volunteer notaries and law student witnesses.  Conduct of the entire process is guided by experienced staff.

This session is co-sponsored by the Dauphin County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Young Lawyer's Division, and is supported by some benefactor organizations.  See: Brochure, Wills for Heroes Pennsylvania (PDF, 2 pages).

I followed this program for many years, but only became involved personally in 2011. See: PA Bar Promotes "Wills for Heroes" Further (07/18/11); "Wills for Heroes" Workshops Multiply in PA & DE (08/03/10); PBA's Young Lawyers Sponsor "Wills for Heroes" (05/06/09); and Firefighters, First Responders, and Free Wills (05/15/08).

This is the second such event that I attended at WLS-Harrisburg.  I participated in a similar, but much larger and longer session held here on a Saturday in mid-November, 2011.  I served as an "expert" on demand, discussing specific concerns or offering document solutions.  

Those five pro bono hours were shared with experienced local lawyers, enthusiastic second- and third-year law students, and efficient notaries -- all volunteers.  Our activities were organized by PBA staff.  Each participant was devoted to producing a set of individualized last wills, durable powers of attorney, and health care directives to worthy non-paying clients -- first responders and their life mates.

The first responder clientele had qualified for such pro bono legal services as firefighters, police officers, paramedics, corrections personnel, or probation officers, employed by or volunteering through a federal, state, or local government, or their related agencies and public service associations.  

Most first responders brought a spouse.  Some even brought their young children, who played with toys in a special area.  

The first responders had attended an orientation session or had received an explanation package previously.  The objectives, benefits, and limitations of the program were explained.  

An estate planning questionnaire was distributed for their completion in advance of their scheduled interview at the session.  Most had completed that questionnaire; but some arrived sheepishly in hopes of completing a blank one during their interview with a lawyer.  Either way was okay.

The process proceeded past sign-in, into a personal, confidential interview with a lawyer seated with a portable computer at a "station".  The lawyer then entered data from the questionnaire -- supplemented by responses during the interview -- into document assembly software specifically designed for the WFH program.  Special concerns could be addressed, within limits.  

Next, document drafts were printed, reviewed by the lawyer and clients, and revised if necessary.  Final documents, together with a representation letter (as to limited engagement and then termination of that professional relationship) and a post-execution instruction letter, were produced on laser printers.

The clients carried their document packages to a square table that appeared to host a bridge game looking for a fourth player.  The notary and two witnesses proceeded through the signing formalities with the clients.

An hour or so after signing in, the clients left with free, personalized, dependable estate and personal planning documents resulting from their intentional planning with professional implementation.

The benefits to the first providers are unquestionable and valuable.  But what are the benefits to the other participants -- the volunteer legal services providers?  

In keeping with a tradition of making Top Ten lists, I offer the top ten reasons to volunteer at a Wills for Heroes session in your area: 

#10: You can join hundreds of lawyers in many states who have participated in this program since 2001.

#9: You can eat free food -- donuts and coffee for breakfast, or soft pretzels, pizza, and soda for lunch -- depending upon your shift.

#8:  For lawyers, you can meet yourself years ago as a law student, or, for law students, you can meet yourself years from now as a lawyer, and then interact with your doppelgänger.

#7:  You can get your name/face in a newsletter or newspaper, or perhaps even on television -- but only if you sign the media consent form -- since such sessions often become local news.

#6:  You can brush up on estate planning law during the one-hour participants' orientation session offered before clients arrive.

#5:  You can learn about document assembly software, which is checklist-oriented and data-entry based, but which transfers a set of documents into standard word processing software.

#4:  You can hone your people skills in a safe and supervised environment.

#3:  For lawyers, you can obtain pro bono service credit and recognition.

#2:  You can meet some special, dedicated people --  the first responders -- as short-term clients.

and the best reason to volunteer at a Wills for Heroes session in your area -- particularly one sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Association -- is . . .

#1:  You can help first responders, who already work daily to help all of us.

Graphic reproduced from the Lawyers and Settlements Blog

Update:  06/12/12:

I noticed that the Wills for Heroes website linked to this post in its "News" section.  I'm pleased to be a part of their promotion of this worthwhile Program.

Penn State/Dickinson Law School and Elder Law

Each monthly issue of the electronic newsletter, Alumni Connection, sent to graduates of The Dickinson School of Law of the Penn State University (generally now known as Penn State Law) includes a link to a legal blog. The September, 2011 issue includes a link to this PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog.  

Such a selection shows consistency between this Blog's focus, and the past and present involvement of PSU/DSL in elder law study, research, and clinic practice.

For example, on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, according to a Press Release entitled "Professor Pearson to speak on preventing elder abuse", Professor Katherine C. Pearson will visit the Penn State School of Nursing (and its Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing at Penn State) to present a lecture, "Beware of Befrienders: Analyzing Roles for Professionals in Helping Older Adults Avoid Financial Abuse.

When an elderly person is caught in the snares of financial abuse, a professional such as a nurse, physician, banker, or attorney can only provide help if he or she knows what to look for and what to do when elder abuse is suspected. * * *

“This is a rare opportunity to speak with an experienced elder law attorney and better understand this important issue, which has become an enormous problem for older adults in recent years,” said Patricia Webb, project administrator at the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing at Penn State, which is sponsoring the event.

“Financial abuse can be a complex interdisciplinary problem. We would shortchange vulnerable people by addressing this problem through the eyes of just one profession,” said Professor Pearson, who is a scholar of legal issues facing older adults and focuses on interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to elder care.

Beyond teaching law school courses on elder law, she is well-qualified to discuss elder abuse. For example:

• She co-wrote a book on financial elder abuse, published early in 2011.  See: "Professors Co-Author Book on the Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation"; and PA EE&F Law Blog posting New Book: "The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation" (01/26/11).
• She testified on July 16, 2010, before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging about "The Importance of Resident Voices in Regulation of Continuing Care Retirement Communities."
• She discussed financial elder abuse on WITF-TV in a personal interview.  See: Professor Pearson discusses the elderly as targets of fraud on WITF-Smart Talk
• She will work with researchers from Northern Ireland and England and lead a year-long study that examines whether the U.S. legal system is meeting the legal advice needs of older adults.  See:  "Do the elderly get the legal advice they need? Professor Pearson works with researchers from the UK to get answers." (07/13/11).

Beyond such faculty involvement, DSL/PSU law students in Carlisle, PA, support the Wills for Heroes Foundation program locally, providing free basic estate and personal planning for first responders and their families.  See: "Wills for Heroes" (10/11).  Students there also offered legal assistance to local senior citizens.  See: "Students Expand Outreach through “Senior Law Day” (02/08).

Most importantly, the Law School has operated its Elder Protection Clinic continuously since 2001.  See:  "Partners in Outreach and Advocacy: Interdisciplinary Opportunities in University-Based Legal Clinics" by Katherine C. Pearson & Lucy Johnston-Walsh, published and posted by the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Volume 11, Number 4, p. 163, (2006).

I've noted the Elder Protection Clinic's periodic Newsletters previously.  See: PA EE&F Law Blog postings PSU-DSL Publishes Its Elder Law Clinic Newsletter (12/19/07) and "Adventures in Law & Aging" -- Spring, 2009 Issue (04/27/09).

As I've said recently, I'm proud to be an alumnus.

Whether anyone will notice the Law School's posting of a link to this particular blog is not important.  It is the Law School's sensitivity to this area of the law -- demonstrated by including such a link -- that is so important. 

Blogger Notes 35th Law School Reunion

On a personal note, I will attend the 35th Reunion of the Class of 1976 of The Dickinson School of Law (now a professional graduate school of Penn State University) on Friday evening, September 16th, and Saturday, September 17th, 2011.

To promote classmate attendance, I created a website, DSL Proud 1976, where I noted:

The "Proud and Independent" Dickinson School of Law that we once attended evolved into the more expansive Penn State University Dickinson School of Law (also known as Penn State Law or The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University).  It now operates in two locations -- University Park, Pennsylvania and Carlisle, Pennsylvania -- as a unified enterprise with a solid reputation, a growing stature, and a bright future.

On that class reunion website, I noted the changes in the Law School.  I posted images reflecting the changes and links explaining them.

I'm proud to be a graduate; and I'm proud that the Law School still educates lawyers well.

Anyone contemplating a law school education should consider The Dickinson School of Law of Penn State University.

PA Law Resources Available

Recently in researching, I came across a basic guide to sources of Pennsylvania law (statutory, regulatory, judicial opinions, and practice treatises) entitled "Legal Guide: Pennsylvania Practice Aids" (June, 2008; PDF, 2 pages), posted by the Widener University School of Law's library.

Such a primer should be helpful for any "newbies" to the subject of Pennsylvania law, whether first-year law students or other students seeking an overview of rules issued by Pennsylvania's three-branch system (legislative, judicial, & executive).

Widener University Law School's library in Harrisburg, PA, is listed among similar facilities at the eight Pennsylvania law schools, as compiled by HG.org, a legal information service.  Its law collections can be searched online, just like the online legal collection at the University of Pennsylvania Law School's Law Library, and many others.  Some of these resources are restricted to students, but many of the linked resources are usable by anyone.

In Pennsylvania, the most comprehensive online resource of law-related links likely remains Pennsylvania Legal Research Websites, which I reviewed previously.  I described it as "the definitive listing of legal links in the Commonwealth."  See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting "PA Legal Research Websites" Shines (05/01/08).  Younger folks would just say, "Awesome!"

For general questions in Pennsylvania, we could consider another resource:  the Ask Here PA service, which is "designed to provide fast answers to your questions, using information found on the Internet and in proprietary databases funded by libraries." 

They promise a response to a question sent by email within fifteen minutes or less.

Sounds like an oracle I might use on a tough issue.

“The ancient oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks.

It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.”

 -- Socrates (Ancient Greek Philosopher, 470 BC-399 BC)

Do-It-Yourself Wills, a No-No

On September 7, 2010, Forbes  published and posted an excellent article about "Do-It-Yourself" estate planning written by an experienced business and legal writer.

Her message:  "Why am I strenuously opposed to do-it-yourself wills? There are just so many things that can go wrong -- from the wording of the document, to the required formalities for how it must be signed and witnessed before it can be valid."

In researching her article, The Case Against Do-It-Yourself Wills, Deborah L. Jacobs made inquiries through the listserv of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC), collecting, from experienced specialized lawyers, their "horror" stories of self-help estate planning gone bad.  She recites some accounts in her lengthy article.

I agree with her advice.  Don't write testamentary documents -- those taking effect (and becoming irrevocable) to direct property after your death -- by yourself, without at least a review by an experienced elder law attorney.

For many years while teaching Estate Planning & Administration or Elder Law at Widener Law School, Harrisburg Campus, I directed second- and third-year law students to draft a last will, a health care directive, or a durable power of attorney as part of a graded project.  I allowed, even encouraged, use of consumer-oriented estate planning software, but mandated that all documents "work" according to the expectation of the hypothetical client.

Such highly-educated law students, who took a course and who sought a good grade, often made mistakes that an experienced practitioner would not.  Sometimes they used a wrong "form" to accomplish an end or create a relationship.  Other mistakes ranged from misspellings, omission of crucial data, internal inconsistencies in directions, disregard of non-probate designations that would control, citations to incorrect law, incomplete statements of intention or flawed dispositions (some in long-term trusts), and lack of backup plans or successor appointments.

Now, if trained law students make such mistakes, why would a consumer without training do better?

Just as those students might learn from using a self-help legal program to produce a draft of a document for discussion, a consumer could become educated.

Those easily-printed documents could be flawed, however; so the output should be reviewed by someone knowledgeable in applicable law and legal procedure.

Using a DIY will is like "pulling your own tooth with a pair of pliers instead of going to the dentist." -- Timothy E. Kalamaros, Esq., South Bend, Indiana

"Wills for Heroes" Workshops Multiply in PA & DE

The Pennsylvania Bar Association presses forward on its successfully-sponsored "Wills for Heroes" program, promoted by its Young Lawyers Division.

The program is described by the PBA-YLD as follows:

“Wills for Heroes” provides police, fire and emergency medical personnel -- those on the frontlines for our personal safety -- the tools they need to prepare adequately for the future.

Programs are staffed by lawyer volunteers and are conveniently offered to first responders at meeting halls and police and fire stations.

The PBA and the Wills for Heroes Foundation are hosting upcoming events to provide free wills and powers of attorney to first responders -- police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other men and women who risk their lives every day to make sure our communities are safe.* * *

The PBA's Wills for Heroes program is also described in a flyer for volunteers (PDF) posted online.

In two blog posts over the past two years, I tracked such personal and estate planning services offered free to certain first responders in Pennsylvania, beginning at a county bar association level and then advancing into statewide PBA sponsorship. See: Firefighters, First Responders, and Free Wills (05/15/08) and PBA's Young Lawyers Sponsor "Wills for Heroes" (05/09/09). That organized effort now has strengthened and matured in Pennsylvania, which was the 21st state to endorse and implement the national Wills for Heroes program.

In September, 2009, that effort was cited nationally as a model and symbol of volunteerism. See: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood honor the Wills for Heroes Foundation.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's Press Release, entitled Governor Rendell Commends Volunteers on National Day of Service and Remembrance (09/11/09), as posted by Examiner.com, stated, "There is no better example of the spirit of volunteerism than the Wills for Heroes project that we are seeing in action today, and it is especially appropriate as we observe the anniversary of the terrible events of 9/11."

Law school students, such as those I teach at Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg Campus), and those at WLS (Delaware Campus) joined the movement in public workshops held Saturday, April 17, 2010. The Harrisburg (Dauphin County) event is the subject of an online photo gallery posted by the PBA.

WLS-Delaware students held their second "Wills for Heroes" event on July 10, 2010, when "nearly 60 clients turn out to receive pro bono legal services." See: Delaware Campus Hosted Another Successful Wills for Heroes Event (07/27/10).

The event saw volunteer attorneys prepare wills, advance health care directives, and financial powers of attorneys free of cost for Delaware firefighters, paramedics, police officers, corrections officers, probation officers, and their spouses or partners. * * *

The law school places such an emphasis on public service that it just made sense to bring the two together. Everyone quickly became committed to the idea of Widener being the vessel that makes this opportunity available to Delaware’s emergency service workers.”

Widener Law’s Delaware campus hopes to coordinate a Wills for Heroes document-preparation event once a semester. Subsequent events will move around to the First State’s three counties. Widener Law, the official Delaware affiliate of the Wills for Heroes program, ran its first event on April 17th. * * *

The effort in Pennsylvania still appears rooted in practitioners and their staff. In its August 2, 2010 electronic bulletin to members, the Pennsylvania Bar Association requested assistance for further workshops scheduled around the state:

At least 10 to 20 lawyers, three or four notaries (who aren't required to be lawyers) and several witnesses (anyone over the age of 18) are needed for each event.

Lawyer volunteers do not need to practice trust and estate law. A mini-course will be given the morning of the event to familiarize volunteers with what they need to know. Also, several lawyers well-versed in estate planning will be available during the day to answer any questions that may arise. * * *

New volunteers are asked to complete the online registration form

. * * *

That bulletin noted upcoming Wills for Heroes events in Pennsylvania:

Bucks County (Contact coordinators Lisa A. Shearman and Jennifer Murphy)

• Aug. 7: Trevose Fire Company, Trevose
• Aug. 28: Trevose Fire Company, Trevose
• Sept. 11: Public Safety Training Center, Doylestown

Lackawanna County (Contact coordinator Jason Morrison)

• Oct. 2: Scranton Police Department, Scranton
  

Montgomery County (Contact coordinator Shearman)

• Sept. 25: Montgomery Township Fire Department, Montgomeryville
  

York County (Contact coordinator Mac Brillhart)

• Sept. 18: York Township Emergency Service Personnel, York

According to the PBA's bulletin, "For more information about the Wills for Heroes program, send an e-mail to Dan McKenna or Lisa A. Shearman and visit the Wills for Heroes Foundation website and the PBA Young Lawyers Division website."

PA Inheritance Tax as Law Review Subject

The Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax rarely is the subject of law review articles. But the most recent issue of the Penn State Law Review (Volume 114, Issue 3), published by The Dickinson School of Law of Penn State University, contains an excellent article (known as as a "Comment") on the subject.

Timothy J. Witt (J.D. 2010, Penn State) published Individuals and Inheritance Taxes: A Praxeological Examination of Pennsylvania’s Inheritance Tax, 114 Penn St. L. Rev. 1105 (2010) [PDF, pages 1105-1139], on April 19, 2010, as noted on that Law Review's website.

The author's introduction defines his subject and its treatment:

Much has been written regarding the economic effects of the federal estate tax, but relatively little has been published about state inheritance taxes and their economic consequences.
Additionally, what has been written has not been addressed primarily to a legal audience. The legal literature discussing the Pennsylvania inheritance tax, one of the eleven effective state inheritance or estate taxes found across the country, is no exception to this observation; beyond practice guides, few legal resources have discussed the tax, and virtually none have substantively and systematically examined its economic effects.

Furthermore, Pennsylvania's inheritance tax, like those of other states that have such taxes, has never been specifically analyzed in a legal context from the unique perspective of praxeology, an economic framework rooted in the study of individual human action.

This praxeological approach, with its recognition of “the market” as the aggregation of the actions and exchanges of individual persons, provides several significant and relevant insights into the nature of Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax. * * *

The article first provides a "brief introduction of both the history of Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax and praxeology," and then examines the Pennsylvania inheritance tax:

1. in its current statutory form,
2. as it would have been affected by a recent bill in the General Assembly, and
   
3. in the extreme forms possibly permitted by the case law of both Pennsylvania and the United States Supreme Court.

In Part IV, this Comment outlines the economic effects of each of these three expressions of Pennsylvania’s inheritance tax in four praxeologically-significant categories:

• ante-mortem capital accumulation,
  
• ante-mortem capital flight,
  
• post-mortem capital consumption, and
  
• state revenue. [Reparagrphing applied.]

Consistent with his approach, the author notes that the "Comment advocates neither for nor against the Pennsylvania inheritance tax on the level of public policy."

The Comment analyzes one House member's attempt to phase out Pennsylvania's inheritance tax completely by 2012. House Bill 377 was introduced in November, 2007, by Representative Scott Perry (R) of the 92nd Legislative District.

That legislation failed, as did subsequent attempts to terminate the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax. See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting, New Attempts to Abolish PA Inheritance Tax (03/02/09).

Given the fiscal shortfall currently for the Commonwealth, and projected burdens on state taxpayers deriving from liberal retirement benefits promised to state workers, I believe that such legislation will continue to fail, as a matter of politics.

The author instead approaches the issue of repeal from an academic approach; and in this analysis, the practicing lawyer may fall away. However, the author's discussion offers a researched and rational approach to a difficult issue -- taxation of interests transferring upon death of an individual.

He concludes, generally:

With regard to Pennsylvania's inheritance tax, praxeology supports the conclusion that high inheritance tax rates would cause significant economic decline by fostering both capital consumption and capital flight, with a secondary effect being a decline in state revenue.

Likewise, under a praxeological examination, the Commonwealth's current inheritance tax causes some capital consumption and capital flight, albeit at levels insufficient to have presently created economic decline in Pennsylvania.

Repealing Pennsylvania's inheritance tax would foster additional economic growth through the increase of capital accumulation and a decrease in capital flight, which could have the contingent potential of increasing state revenue in the long term.

In terms of the debate over the Pennsylvania inheritance tax, the key praxeological insight is that the tax does not encourage economic growth. Rather, Pennsylvania's inheritance tax is something of a hindrance to economic expansion. * * * [Reparagrphing applied.]

Just how difficult an issue state taxation remains is demonstrated in another article that appears in the same law review issue. Jaime S. Bumbarger (J.D. 2010, Penn State) published Pennsylvania's Taxpayer Relief Act: Big Gamble Pays Off for Some, But Most Lose Their Shirt, 114 Penn St. L. Rev. 1004 (2010) [PDF, pages 1004-1018], which examines taxation of real estate in the Commonwealth.

For its case law citations on the topic alone, the law review's Comment about Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax is valuable. But it also adds a fresh analysis that could be considered by elected representatives who determine taxation upon decedents in the Commonwealth.

Ageing in Ireland: "Older, Louder, Stronger"

In early March, 2010, a friend of mine, Katherine C. Pearson, sent me an email message from Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she conducts her sabbatical from her position as a Professor of Law at Penn State - Dickinson School of Law, in Carlisle, PA.

In the fall of 2009, Professor Pearson was the Petersen Visiting Scholar in Gerontology and Family Studies at Oregon State University.

During the spring of 2010, she will be a scholar in residence at Queen's University Belfast, in Northern Ireland on a Fulbright grant, conducting interdisciplinary research on policies related to protection and care for older adults, with an international perspective. * * *

After relaying kind personal thoughts, she made an offer that only now -- belatedly, but gratefully -- I accept:

In case you might want a "different" sort of aging article for your blog, I'm attaching something I put together on the train while coming home for an interesting conference in Dublin.

But regardless of the attachment, I hope this email finds you -- and finds you well. I'm sending good wishes and a pot of Irish luck your way!

I note the purpose of that Irish partnership, which promotes its work under the banner "Older, Louder, Stronger":

Changing Ageing Partnership (Cap) funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies seeks to develop a robust evidence base to inform policy development with respect to older people. Research is being developed across a range of areas including: law; economics; politics; sociology; environmental planning, consequently a diverse range of methods will be used. * * *

By her participation, she is gathering ideas from the Continent and considering how we, under our American systems, might better address the concerns raised by our aging population. We will need such ideas to address our growing senior needs creatively!

The Business of Aging – or Ageing – in Ireland
Copyright © by Katherine C. Pearson
[Links added by NEH]

I have long been involved with legal professionals engaged in the business of aging, while also watching students begin their careers in Penn State Law’s Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic. With that background, I decided to attend a conference on “The Business of Ageing” in Dublin, Ireland on March 3, 2010. (“Aging” in the U.S. is spelled with an “e” in Ireland and the U.K.)

The conference was sponsored in major part by technology powerhouse Intel, which has a center of health product research in Ireland. My spring sabbatical residence is in Northern Ireland, where I am working at Queen’s University Belfast’s Changing Ageing Partnership, and that made it easy to take advantage of this opportunity.

The motto of the conference was “Turning Silver into Gold” and frankly that phrase gave me a few worries. Students in Penn State’s Elder Law and Consumer Protection Clinic have had a few too many opportunities to see the consequences of home repair “experts,” home lenders, hearing aid companies and insurance companies that tried to tap into the presumed riches held by older persons. Fortunately, I encountered no one trying to market financial products such as deferred pay-off annuities or reverse mortgages that have often have high commissions or hidden transaction costs.

Over 300 people attended. It was standing room only for speakers ranging from the political leader of Ireland, Taoiseach Brian Cowen, to a Harvard professor giving the latest economic and demographical profile for Europe and Ireland.

Unlike the U.S. and U.K., Ireland is still a few years away from hitting the inverted population pyramid created when older persons substantially outnumber younger workers. The extra time is the result of a longer period of high birth rates among its younger families. [See: Irish Times article, State pension age to be set at 68 by 2028 in radical overhaul of qualification structure (03/04/10).]

However, despite the grace period, the economic downturn of the last several years has hit Ireland hard. Even as Ireland’s governing head was trying to put a good face on opportunities for innovation in Ireland, the government was also announcing the need to increase the pensionable retirement age and predicting that future workers would be expected to pay a significant portion of earnings into Ireland’s pension system.

The energy in the room was substantial. I spoke to a young woman working on a PhD that capitalizes on a recent project at Intel where she matched older adults with college age students to provide one-on-one computer training. This project virtually eliminated the drop out-rate from previous efforts to bring older adults fully into the computer age. I met seasoned business people in health and technology fields who were looking to adapt U.S. models for home health and monitoring systems for the population of Ireland.

Speakers included advertising executives and the head of a venture capital company. A few speakers seemed to struggle with political correctness in the language of aging, and some admitted this was the first time they had consciously considered how to market to older adults.

Occasionally I had a renewed shiver of fear, as when one speaker compared marketing for older adults to Robin Hood’s reason for targeting the rich for his thievery, wholly ignoring the fact that at least the fictional Robin Hood was giving the money to the poor rather than lining his own pockets.

Far more impressive was the speaker from B & Q, a home and garden product retailer that has made a conscious effort in Ireland to recruit older employees. B & Q provides the same training and promotion opportunities for all employees, and its older worker profile has helped to ensure a reliable workforce.

Who was missing from the conference – at least as far as I could tell?

I did not encounter any attorneys. Although one accountant assured me, with a smile, that was a good thing.

"Law of the Aged" Web Links

The Duquesne University Center for Legal Information, which is also the website for the Allegheny County Law Library, lists useful links and resources on its web page dedicated to the "Law of the Aged."

These include:

Web Sites

MegaLaw - Elder Law
Virtual Chase - Elder Law
WashLaw - Elder Law
ABA - Commission on Law & Aging

Blawgs and RSS Feeds

Elder Law Prof Blog
PA Elder, Estate and Fiduciary Law Blog
Justia - Elder Law Law Blogs

Articles

Justia - Elder Law Articles

The referenced websites offer many resources, but some are a bit dated -- MegaLaw (updated in 2007) and Virtual Chase (updated in 2004). Still, such academic websites offer more trustworthy website links than would a mere Internet search on a term like "elder law", which often places commercial websites in prominent positions among results.

For another academic presentation of current and detailed legal websites, focused primarily on Pennsylvania, but extending beyond, as previously noted in my posting "PA Legal Research Websites" Shines (05/01/08), see Pennsylvania Legal Research Web Sites, by Dittakavi Rao.

"Creativity" in Elder Law Promoted

The Elder Law & Consumer Protection Clinic at Penn State/Dickinson Law School issued the Summer, 2009 issue of its newsletter, Adventures in Law and Aging (PDF, 4 pages), with the theme of "creativity" in addressing elder law issues in Pennsylvania.

This is the Table of Contents of the Summer 2009 Newsletter:

• GUARDIANSHIP REFORM: The Need for Creative Approaches to Fiduciary Support, by Professor Katherine C. Pearson, Director, Elder Law & Consumer Protection Clinic (p. 1)

• ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: CREATIVITY IN PRACTICE: The Blogging Attorney, by Brian W. Mains, Certified Legal Intern (p. 1)

• CREATIVE SOLUTIONS: Designing a Progressive and Innovative Older Adult Transportation Alternative, by Tatyana Chigirinsky, Certified Legal Intern (p. 2)

• A NEW CLINICAL EXPERIENCE: AARP’S Legal Services, by Abby Warren & Christina Bonne-Anne, Certified Legal Interns (p. 3)

• Hot Summer Events in Law & Aging (p. 4)

The second article is about blogging by a lawyer -- specifically about this PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog and its Dickinson School of Law (Class of 1976!) alumni blog author (me).

I had talked on the telephone for over an hour with third-year law student Brian Mains, in March, 2009, but heard little until Katherine Pearson sent an email with a PDF of the newsletter containing his published article.

Brian translated and organized my comments well. He captured the spirit of what I tried to convey to him, just as I try to convey it to students in my elder law classes: The practice of elder law requires passion and compassion, as well as solid legal skills, advocacy, and creativity.

But the article, which focused on this Blog, also jolted me. Lately I have not written postings as I should, despite so many developments affecting the senior population.

So, I'll stoke up my passion again, and post more. 'Nuff said.

"Adventures in Law & Aging" -- Spring, 2009 Issue

The Elder Law & Consumer Protection Clinic at Penn State/Dickinson Law School issued its most recent newsletter, Adventures in Law and Aging (Spring, 2009).

The newsletter, available online in PDF format (4 pages), contains articles about elder law practice in addition to those regarding legal education and activities of that law school's elder law clinic, in Carlisle, PA:

• The Creative Grandparent, by Prof. Katherine C. Pearson (p. 1)
• Alumni Spotlight: Elder Law Attorney and DSL Alum Shares His Insight on Being Entrepreneurial, by Trish Cowart, Esq. (p. 1)
• Representing the Public as Attorney for the Commonwealth, by Eric Ladley & Jason Lau (p. 2)
• Creating an Alternative Career with a Law Degree, by Lisa Leicht (p. 3)
• Managing a Non-Profit Law Firm, by Ashley Clark (p. 4)

In reviewing the other resources of this elder law clinic, I noted that its lists have been updated recently, thus remaining an excellent source of information and referrals. See: the Elder Law Resource Center. which explains its Elder Law Bibliography.

Update: 04/29/09:

Looks like I unintentionally "scouped the story" about the issuance of this newsletter!

Katherine Pearson sent me an email message this morning, noting that I announced the posting of the Newsletter before the printed version becomes available:

I noticed you had already found my Spring issue of Adventures in Law and Aging.

Thanks for the promotion. I haven't even got the hard copy from the printer yet!

Only two more miracles to go . . . .

Wilkes' New Dean of Law School Planning Initiative

On May 7, 2008, Wilkes University issued a Press Release, entitled "Wilkes Takes Big Step to Creating New Law School -- Announces Dean of Law School Planning Initiative". The named dean is Loren ("Chip") D. Prescott, Jr., now of Harrisburg, PA.

Wilkes University announces that Loren D. Prescott Jr. has been appointed dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative.

Prescott, who has served as vice dean and professor at Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg, Pa., will lead efforts to develop plans for northeastern Pennsylvania’s first law school. Preliminary plans call for enrolling between 80 and 100 first-year students in fall 2010.

As dean, Prescott will also complete an in-depth market analysis of enrollment trends, of the parameters for the law school library, and develop a trailblazing curriculum that answers many of the critiques of legal education today. He is scheduled to submit the final plans for the law school for consideration by the Wilkes Board of Trustees at its April 2009 meeting.

“If feasible, the addition of a law school represents a great opportunity for the revitalization of Wilkes-Barre and the region. Wilkes’ mentoring culture is uniquely suited to training a new generation of attorneys skilled in the practice, not just the theory, of law,” said Tim Gilmour, president of Wilkes University.

“Chip Prescott brings both experience and vision to this initiative. We’re honored to have a leader of his caliber to lead the effort.” * * *

I learned about this appointment in an email message sent by Chip on May 7th. I was surprised, and pleased.

When I first learned about the proposal to create a new law school in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton area, to join eight existing law schools in Pennsylvania, I was skeptical. See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting New Law School at Wilkes University? (03/06/07).

My concerns were not founded in the ability of Wilkes University to create an academically suitable law school, or the need in Northeastern Pennsylvania for graduate-level education, or the economic benefits that a law school might bring in that region, or even the capability of Wilkes to attract qualified, committed faculty and eager, tuition-paying law students into a new law school.

No, my concern was simple: Where would more law school graduates find jobs once educated?

My updates to that posting reinforced my concerns, to which I urged studied consideration:

The "job market" and the implied promise made to law students when they pay (or borrow) the tuition necessary to attend law school -- that further education will increase their employment opportunities -- should be one of the elements to be considered by those charged with examining a new law school at Wilkes University.

By February of this year, the concept for a new law school, as sketched by the Wilkes University Board of Trustees, was embodied in its search for a designing dean. See: PA EE&F Law Blog posting Proposed Wilkes Law School Seeks Dean (02/06/08).

I was pleasantly surprised by the pragmatic, innovative approach adopted for the proposed new law school, as evidenced by its reliance upon a detailed report, entitled "Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law" (2007), issued by the Carnegie Foundation.

I concluded by noting that, "[w]ithout question, the format for an effective institutional legal education is changing." I became hopeful that such a new law school could, indeed, meet not only the needs of a university, a region, and an economy in Pennsylvania, but also of students who would become prepared, by a legal education, to function productively while paid adequate compensation.

Now I learn that Chip Prescott will be the one to guide this new law school into being.

"Well, bust my buttons! Why didn't you say that in the first place? That's a horse of a different color! Come on in!"

My skepticism had paralleled that of the gatekeeper to the grand, Emerald City in the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz:

[Reaching the gate into the Emerald City, Dorothy and her friends ring the bell. A Gateman appears through a porthole.]

Gateman: Who rang that bell?!

All four: We did!

Gateman: Can't you read?!

Scarecrow: Read what?

Gateman: The notice!

All four: What notice?

Gateman: It's on the door, as plain as the nose on my face! It's a [Realizes there is no notice] Oh-- Oh... [Hangs a notice on the door, then disappears]

All Four: [Reading the notice] "Bell out of order. Please knock." [Dorothy knocks on the knocker, and the Gateman reemerges]

Gateman: Well, that's more like it! Now, state your business.

All four: We want to see the Wizard.

Gateman: [Nearly falls out of his porthole from shock] The Wizard?! But nobody can see the Great Oz! Nobody's ever seen the Great Oz! Even I've never seen him!

Dorothy: Well, then — how do you know there is one?

Gateman: Because he, uh... You're wasting my time!

Dorothy: Oh please, please sir. I've got to see the Wizard. The Good Witch of the North sent me.

Gateman: Prove it. * * *

Once Dorothy displays the Ruby Slippers, the Gatekeeper says, "Well, bust my buttons"; and she, with her companions, are ushered into the Emerald City, where they prepare to do their longer & harder work.

Chip Prescott is as special as Dorothy Gale in that movie, The Wizard of Oz.

He does not wear Ruby Slippers (thank goodness), but he radiates personal characteristics that gleam just as brightly. He is honest, intelligent, resourceful, devoted, reliable, sensitive, social, respectful, and funny. He is one of the finest people I've encountered. I am privileged to consider him my friend.

He understands the need for practical legal education, responsive to the changing needs of our citizens and also targeted at graduates' productive employment.

Just as Dorothy possessed the necessary desire and qualities to perform her mission with the support of her companions, which resulted in growth and goodness in the lives of those she touched in that movie's fantasy, Chip Prescott possesses the commitment and character to materialize a new law school with the support of Wilkes University and the host that will join the effort, which will benefit Pennsylvanians in reality.

I congratulate him on his acceptance of this new challenge; and I congratulate the folks at Wilkes University for selecting him.

Scarecrow: What have you learned, Dorothy?

Dorothy: Well, I—I think that it, that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em — and it's that — if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

Glinda: That's all it is! * * *

...

Glinda: Then close your eyes and tap your heels together three times. And think to yourself, 'There's no place like home'.

* * *

Update: 05/27/08:

On May 27, 2008, The Citizens Voice, in Northeastern PA, published an extensive, complimentary article about Chip Prescott, entitled "New dean of Wilkes law school initiative ready for the challenge", by Caleb Sheaffer:

This summer, Loren D. “Chip” Prescott Jr. has many things on his plate.

The first is cleaning his office of 18 years at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg.

The second is starting as the appointed dean for the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative. He’s also becoming a grandfather and completing work on a doctorate in public administration.

Last, he is meeting with a consultant in Chicago to discuss the accreditation process for a law school that four years ago was only an idea.

It’s a law school that Prescott hopes will open its doors at Wilkes University by 2010, graduating its first class by 2013. It’s also a law school that Prescott sees as a bold move by Wilkes University, which will benefit Wilkes-Barre and Northeastern Pennsylvania upon its completion.

“The biggest challenge is this involves the creation of a new institution,” Prescott said. “In higher education, the opportunity to create an institution is unusual.”

Prescott, 52, of Harrisburg, starts the job as dean of the Wilkes University Law School Planning Initiative on June 2. He will be responsible for presenting a complete plan for the law school to the Wilkes University Board of Trustees by April 2009. * * *

Law Day and English Legal History

"Law Day" was May 1st, and this recognition of law in society continues through May, 2008.

This year's national theme for "Law Day" is "The Rule of Law", as promoted by the American Bar Association, all state bar associations, including the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and local bar associations.

Pennsylvania takes a slightly different approach to observing Law Day by focusing on children.

Through classroom visits by lawyers and judges and an outstanding set of free law-related lesson plans prepared for K-College classrooms, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and county bar associations across the commonwealth work with schools to educate children about their legal rights and responsibilities in the new millennium. The free lessons and materials are designed to be informative and fun for all kids.

Law Day provides Pennsylvania lawyers and judges with a wonderful opportunity to become involved in their local communities. Law Day is funded by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation. * * *

The ABA's resources note the History of Law Day, but say very little about the long history of American & English law. At this 50th Anniversary of Law Day, I celebrate the roots of American law in English law.

English Legal History is the subject of some seminar courses taught at law schools, such as the University of Pittsburgh School of Law:

English common law has historically served as the foundation of American jurisprudence; the record of its development is a fascinating interplay of ideas, personalities and conflicts.

This seminar will explore the history of English common law from its twelfth-century beginnings in the reigns of Henry II and Richard the Lion-Heart to its intellectual culmination in the writings of late nineteenth-century Oxford academics. * * *

That course description links to these more detailed resources:

• English Legal History Materials, posted by Professor Robert Palmer, of the University of Houston
• The Magna Carta (1215), posted by The Avalon Project at Yale Law School

An expansive Duke University School of Law web page entitled "English Legal History", under the heading "Legal History on the Web", compiled by Katherine Topulos (last revised 11/07), lists and explains many research & resource links related to English legal history, including:

• The Anglo-American Legal Tradition
  
• The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
• British Legal History: Selected Links on the Web
  
• The Court of Chivalry
  
• Guide to Legal History Resources on the Web
  
• H-LAW
• HeinOnline
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
  
• Legal History Blog
  
• Legal History on the Web
• Medieval Legal History
• Parliament Rolls of Medieval England
  
• The Proceedings of the Old Bailey

The Legal History Blog, under its heading "English legal history", reviews resources on that topic. See also: English Medieval Legal Documents Wiki, maintained by the University of Southern California as a compilation of published sources from AD 600 to AD 1535.

So the online documentation of our common English legal history is expanding, just as all posted knowledge is exploding.

But the principles involved in Last Wills trace back beyond English law, according to Wikopedia's entry (drawn from the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, in its series on "The Law of Wills, Trusts and Estate Administration") about the "Legal History of Wills", and specifically its heading "Wills in the Ancient World":

The will, if not purely Roman in origin, at least owes to Roman law its complete development, a development which in most European countries was greatly aided at a later period by ecclesiastics versed in Roman law.

In India, the will was unknown before English conquest.

In Christian tradition, Eusebius and others have related of Noah's testament, made in writing, and witnessed under his seal, by which he disposed of the whole world. Additionally, wills are spoken of in the Old Testament (in Genesis 48), where Jacob bequeaths to his son Joseph, a portion of his inheritance, double to that of his brethren.

The Ancient Greek practice concerning wills was not the same in all places; some states permitted men to dispose of their estates, others wholly deprived them of that privilege. We are told by Plutarch, that Solon is much commended for his law concerning wills; for before his time no man was allowed to make any, but all the wealth of deceased persons belonged to their families; but he permitted them to bestow it on whom they pleased, esteeming friendship a stronger tie than kindred, and affection than necessity, and thus put every man's estate in the disposal of the possessor; yet he allowed not all sorts of wills * * *.

According to the ABA, Law Day 2008 "will explore the meaning of the rule of law, fostering public understanding of the rule of law through discussion of its role in a free society." The history of American and English law reveals how those rules have evolved.

"Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered."
-- Aristotle

"PA Legal Research Websites" Shines

Since 1999, Dittakavi N. Rao, Associate Director of the Duquesne University Law Library, Pittsburgh, PA, headed the construction & expansion of a website that catalogs useful online legal resource links specific to Pennsylvania, known as "Pennsylvania Legal Research Websites". It has become the definitive listing of legal links in the Commonwealth.

That website's creation, circa 1999, reminds us of another unusual resource -- a law library in Pittsburgh jointly-operated by a university and a county since 1999.

According to a posted article, entitled "A Law School - County Law Library Partnership", by Frank Y. Liu & Joel Fishman (2005), "[t]his partnership between a private academic law library and a public county law library is the only operation of its kind in the nation."

In November, 1999, Duquesne University Center for Legal Information (DCLI) and the Allegheny County government located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, entered into a contract for the DCLI to manage the operations of the Allegheny County Law Library (ACLL).

The partnership has proven to be a success * * *. [The contract was renewed on November 4, 2003, for another five years, from June 2004 to May 2008.]

This article is intended to share with the law library community the background, the operations, and the benefits to both libraries and the legal community of the greater Pittsburgh area from this unique partnership. * * *

Pennsylvania Legal Research Websites (PLRW) is linked on the combined website of the Duquesne Center for Legal Information and the Allegheny County Law Library under "Essential Legal Links", as "Rao's PA Legal Research".

It is listed just above another sponsored website, the Pennsylvania Constitution Web Page of the Duquesne University School of Law. This companion constitution site, maintained by Professor Bruce Ledewitz and Dr. Joel Fishman, is described in the article as "the most extensive state constitutional law web site in the country."

That phrase -- "the most extensive" -- also describes perfectly PLRW. It is a comprehensive Pennsylvania legal research center for law students, lawyers, other professionals, and the general public who access the Internet to learn about the law. Its links are varied and voluminous. You really have to view it to appreciate the depth & breadth of its links relating to all aspects of the Commonwealth's laws and legal system.

That site is described, but also limited, in its usage notice:

This site is an attempt to bring together, for easy access, the various Pennsylvania legal Web sites that are already available on the Internet under different subject headings.

This site is not intended to provide legal advice.

Users have to make their own judgment regarding accuracy, completeness, and currency of information found in those sites for which links are provided.

A few months ago, I had suggested to Mr. Rao the possibility of another category of links that could be added to the PLRW site; and he responded positively.

Now included, at the very bottom of the PLRW site, is a listing of Pennsylvania Blawgs. Twelve such PA-specific blogs are listed, including this one -- the PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog -- and also PA HealthCare DecisionMaking.

You'd think, though, with a category beginning with a "B", that blogs would rate higher than the bottom of the website. Yet I feel certain that such placement was not intentional, and resulted, instead, from some uncontrollable, unavoidable, horrible technological glitch.