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Bar's Elder Law Section serves an often vulnerable clientele
October 1, 2007
The Florida Bar News

By Theresa E. Davis
Assistant Editor
While Florida has a reputation as a great place for people to live out their golden years in the sun, many seniors face hardships at this stage in their lives. The elderly are often targets for many forms of exploitation, and more sinister problems like abuse or neglect.

Enter The Florida Bar’s Elder Law Section, which exists to cultivate and promote professionalism, expertise, and knowledge in the practice of law regarding issues affecting the elderly and persons with special needs.

Section Chair Emma S. Hemness of Brandon puts it more succinctly: “We are talking about our society’s most vulnerable persons. Representing them requires the most caring spirit.”

“A truly rewarding work, as many well know,” added section Chair-elect Linda Chamberlain of Clearwater.

“The Elder Law Section wants to establish itself as the leader in issues affecting the elderly and persons with special needs,” Chamberlain said, adding the section aspires to be Bar members’ first contact for its core focus areas, including guardianship, government financial assistance benefits, elder abuse/neglect and exploitation, and advance directives.

The Elder Law Section has committees that address all sorts of issues pertinent to some of Florida’s most vulnerable persons: health care, Medicaid, and government benefits; the death-care industry — which deals with aspects of funerals and burials — exploitation, abuse, and neglect; guardianship and special needs trust; and estate and financial planning.

Chamberlain said a newly formed abuse, neglect, and exploitation committee is working to connect the various state agencies that deal with these issues to clarify the applicable statutes and promote more active protection and assistance for the elderly.

“This is only the beginning,” Hemness said. “Our aging population is expected to swell for years to come.”

Hemness said elder law is an ever-changing and highly legislated field and the section advocates to aid in the development of laws benefiting elder citizens and those concerned with the care and needs of the elderly.

“The laws we must understand govern both the living and the dead, and are in a constant state of change,” she said.

“The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 has made the most sweeping changes to Medicaid eligibility in 17 years,” Hemness said. “In the post-Schiavo era, upholding health care advance directives can quickly develop into a political quagmire. Fortunately, I believe the Elder Law Section is ready for the tasks that lay ahead.”

Chamberlain described an ad hoc committee, led by Hemness, that will analyze the Long-term Care Insurance Partnership implemented via the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

“The program will be new to Florida and is based on the concept of giving individuals the assurance of knowing they will receive Medicaid benefits for the payment of their long-term care,” Chamberlain said.

“We, as elder law attorneys, are helping raise the marks that history will give our society by holding us all accountable for how these vulnerable individuals are treated,” Hemness said. “The results we acquire for our clients are the very measuring stick by which we, as people, will be judged.”

Hemness said she remembers a time when a relative summarized the current popular opinion about lawyers in a joke. “You know, the one with 1,000 lawyers being at the bottom of the ocean being a good start?

“However, I take great pride in pointing to our section as proof to the contrary. I believe our section members are the ‘good’ lawyers,” she said.

Hemness said the Elder Law Section is growing and maturing even though section participation has room to improve. The section has about 1,800 members, but Hemness said “only a handful” of elder law attorneys are consistently involved in the section’s substantive committees.

As part of its long-range plan, the section will work to increase its diversity and encourage greater involvement. There are plans to follow up with nonrenewing members and seminar attendees, and consistently provide information at seminars and other ELS meetings on how to become involved in the section. The section also has efforts underway to reach out to law school students as a way to increase membership. A Law School Liaison Committee was recently formed with an initial objective of establishing contacts with all of Florida’s law schools. The section will also work to build increased interaction with other sections and organizations that represent the interests of older people and people with disabilities.

“I am inviting each and every member of our section to become active in one of the substantive areas in which you have an interest,” she said. “The section works hard to support your efforts to be a ‘good’ lawyer.”

Membership in the Elder Law Section is open to any licensed attorney interested in the legal issues of the elderly and the annual dues are $50. Member benefits include subscription to The Elder Law Advocate and an opportunity to subscribe to online Medicaid Fair Hearing Reports. For more information about becoming a member, contact Arlee J. Colman, program administrator, at (850) 561-5625 or e-mailing acolman@flabar.org. Or visit the section’s Web site at www.eldersection.org.

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