Have you adapted your law practice for an aging population? If so, how?
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It stands to reason that elder law will provide new opportunities for lawyers. Yet elder law covers a wide range of practice specialties, which makes this emerging discipline hard to pin down.
In a recent ABA Journal story, Marc Davis notes how the legal practice has followed the demographic shift toward an aging population.
The National Elder Law Foundation identifies 12 elder law subject areas that encompass pension and insurance matters, financial and consumer fraud, fiduciary representation, health care planning, and trusts and estates. Five hundred lawyers hold the foundation’s Certified Elder Law Attorney credential, which involves meeting experience, CLE and peer review requirements, then passing a daylong exam.
This week, we’d like to ask: Have you adapted your law practice for an aging population? If so, how? What expertise has emerged, and how did your expertise develop? Was it acquired early on or as your practice matured?
Answer in the comments and on social media. You can answer via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Read the answers to last week’s question: Is there an optimum age to go to law school?
Featured answer:
Posted on Facebook by Quincy Perales:
“There is not a specific age that works best, but law school, and practicing law, requires a level of maturity that can best be obtained by having some life experience, some financial resources, and some experience in the workforce. While I would have loved to have gone back to school in my 20s, my family life and raising young children prevented me from doing so. I waited and saved a little money and went to law school in my 40s after spending a full career as a registered nurse. I loved it; I was, and still am, not as stressed about law school and practicing law as my fellow lawyers. I always think to myself when something gets stressful in my litigation practice, that nobody will die if I need an extension or if I’m not as prepared as I might like. This was not true of my former career—I literally had people’s lives in my hands—and it really helps me to have these life experiences to put the stress and demands of this career in perspective.”
Do you have an idea for a future question of the week? If so, contact us.
