Elder Law Prof Blog

Combining Education and Community Service for Pennsylvania Law Students: "Wills for Heroes"

On a recent Saturday in April, I had the privilege of spending the day -- almost 9 hours, in fact -- with first responders and veterans, and sometimes their children, plus attorneys, notaries, and law students at an event in Central Pennsylvania.  The students, lawyers and notaries were all volunteering their time to prepare wills and other key estate planning documents for community area residents at the Cumberland County Good Hope Fire Station, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.   The Wills for Heroes event had a full slate of 50 spots for clients, and the seats seemed full all day.  In fact the last two sets of documents were witnessed about 4:30 in the afternoon.  Shown here are two Penn State Dickinson Law students, Alaina Kuzmitsky (R) and Devon Lacy (L), working under the direction of a notary and local attorney.

The Wills for Heroes program is organized in Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's  Young Lawyers Division, with the support from individual county bar groups. Paul D. Edgar, Esq., who is the incoming President of the Cumberland County Bar Association, and who currently spends his weekdays in the state Attorney General's office, provided a great training session and set everyone up in the large community room of the very busy Good Hope Fire Station. There were 10 well-spaced tables devoted to interactions between teams of lawyers and law students, for discussion about wills, powers of attorneys and advance health care directives. Separate tables offered witnesses and notaries for final documents.  Law students from both Penn State Dickinson School of Law and Widener Law Commonwealth were fully engaged in the drafting and review process, a great opportunity for combining their hands-on education with public service.   

In addition to Devon and Alaina, the Dickinson Law contingent included several students who were completing an "experiential component" of a Spring semester Elder Law class (Jonathan Biedler, Caitlin Godsey, Talmage Pearce, Devon Lacy, and Joe O'Donnell), three first-year law students (Aidan Levinson, Kristen Ramillano, and Maedot M. Teweldemedhin), two additional upper division law students (Hannah Pasco and Payton Pittman), plus LLM student Naby Bangoura.  Also, one of the practicing attorneys, Fred Gibson, is a recent graduate of Penn State Dickinson Law, who identified his professional interest as potentially including estate planning and elder law while still in school -- and is now helping other law students do the same.    

LLM Student Naby Bangoura wrote to me after the event to express his thoughts on what he described as "key" components to the event, including the use of software that permits customization of the documents.  It was an opportunity for him to recognize how in the United States, the Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorneys apply "even" during free legal services.  He offered a comparative, international perspective, observing: 

"It is truly extraordinary that the Pennsylvania Bar has brought together different professionals, including attorneys, notaries, and students, to assist individuals in drafting their wills at no cost. I have rarely seen this type of synergy and collaboration between professionals from different backgrounds in jurisdictions such as France or West Africa. Although I have attended some pro bono services in France during Covid, which concerned the impact of force majeure on business operations and some remedial measures they could explore, this kind of in-person collaboration and experimental learning is extremely valuable. I wish such initiatives could be experimented with in other parts of the world."

Finally, the firefighters and emergency personnel working at the Station welcomed everyone to their Station with generous offerings of food and coffee throughout the day, and an opportunity to take photos with the fire trucks at the end of the day.  We appreciate your service to the community and it was a pleasure to talk with so many of you.

Pennsylvania Law Schools' Elder Justice Consortium Hosts Free Webinar in Support of National Healthcare Decision Day

In support of the National Healthcare Decisions Day (annually on April 16), the Pennsylvania Law Schools' Elder Justice Consortium hosted a free webinar on April 9, 2024.  The hour-long webinar, soon to become available also as an on-demand recording, introduces a host of topics relevant to advance planning, whether for attorneys in assisting clients, or for the public, including introduction to the types of documents that individuals might want to adopt (such as a Healthcare Power of Attorney, a "Living Will," or a single document that combines both concepts), and what steps are important in making your wishes known to your chosen agent and supporting family members or healthcare providers.  

This free webinar was another "first" for the EJC Consortium -- providing an opportunity for  legal educators to reach audiences outside the doors of each of our law schools. 

Here is a short article authored by one of the attendees, Jonathan Biedler, a third-year law student at Penn State Dickinson Law, whose own post-graduation plans focus on estate planning and elder law.  Jonathan writes:

The EJC includes all the Pennsylvania law schools and was formed in 2022 at the call of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This was in response to the growing recognition of the need for advocacy on elder justice: neglect, abuse, decision-making, housing, etc., as the senior population of Pennsylvania grows. The goal is to combine the specialized experience of clinic professors, classroom professors, career services, deans, and students as members. The Webinar was in anticipation of National Healthcare Decision Day, which is on April 16th, the day after Tax Day. This date was suggested by attorney Nathan Kottkam in 2006 and was inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s famous statement that "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" with the idea being to encourage people to also think about end-of-life planning and advance directives.

 

The EJC Webinar was moderated by Duquesne Kline Law Professor Kate Norton, the EJC’s first chair. Speakers were the EJC’s incoming Co-Chairs Grace Orsatti (Duquesne Kline Law) and Mary Catherine Scott (Widener Law Commonwealth), Brandon Corbalis of the SeniorLAW Center, Professor Spencer Rand of Temple Legal Aid Office, Professors Monica Harmon, a healthcare professional at Drexel's Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships and Professor Katherine Pearson, Penn State Dickinson Law, and Clinic Students Eliza Hens-Greco and Nick Piccirillo, both of  Duquesne Kline School of Law.

 

The speakers discussed the role of Elder Law. Elder Law, in a broad sense. focuses on those aged 60 or older and their family members, often including people with special needs.  Professor Pearson said that as opposed to estate planning’s focus on after death plans, Elder Law often emphasizes protecting and enabling the older client financially and personally in life. The speakers discussed the Office of Elder Justice in the Courts, set up by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to advise the courts on how to prevent elder abuse, 

 

We heard an update on Act 61, a new Pennsylvania law that will be be implemented by courts by June of this year, with key features requiring appointment of counsel for those alleged to be in need of a guardianship, plus training and certification of all guardians, and a requirement for Pennsylvania courts to make specific determinations whether there are less restrictive alternatives than "guardianship" that would better serve the needs of an alleged incapacitated person.

 

Of course, given the theme of the program, the speakers also discussed the importance of advance healthcare directives, which are legal documents laying out a person's instructions relating to medical care and they recommended that people of all ages should have a document reflecting their goals. Such written documentation have recognition "under the law" and thus can support individual  autonomy and the ability to make decisions for ourselves. The speakers emphasized the importance of making sure your primary care and emergency doctors have access to -- and actually review -- the advance directive. Law students Eliza and Nick talked about their own experiences working with clients on advance directives and how at first it was scary and a bit sad to begin the conversation, until they shifted their mindset to think about the conversation as bringing peace and clarity for both the client and the client’s family. In closing remarks, Professor Monica Harmon, speaking from her experience in nursing and public health, emphasized that advance directives can be individualized and encouraged talking with the person you wish to name as decisionmaker to convey that nuances that may be hard to fully encode on the written page.

 Thank you, Jonathan, for this write-up!