The Connecticut Elder Law Blog

What is "Elder Law"?

This question is posed to me pretty often at networking events. Unfortunately, as is the case with  many queries in the legal profession, the answer is not a simple one. And I'm sure my colleagues in the Elder Law bar would find it difficult to come up with a definition that we all agree on. 

"Elder Law", is a very simple, 3-syllable term, but it covers a relatively wide swath of the law because it addresses many different legal issues. Based on 18+ years of law practice, my own understanding of the definition of Elder Law is this: addressing legal issues that concern older individuals, the disabled, and their families.  

Assuming my own definition is relatively accurate, right off the bat you can see that "Elder" may not be the best word to describe this area of the law. In my own practice, I would not consider the vast majority of my clients as "elderly". A good percentage of them may qualify as "older". Many are disabled or "special needs" but relatively young. One unique aspect of this type of law practice (particularly in regards to estate planning and Medicaid/nursing home planning) is that the legal services I provide directly involve, or at least have an impact on the close family members of my clients. And the spectrum of ages for those individuals is very wide. Suffice it to say that "elder" seems to be an insufficient term to describe my clients. However, I have not come up with a better term thus far.

So, what are the various legal issues that my older and disabled individuals often face? It's a long list: estate planning, Medicaid planning and the Medicaid application process, conservatorships and guardianships in the probate court system, Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Administration benefits, special needs trust planning, addressing inadequate care at a skilled nursing facility, assisted living facility or with home care, working with the State of Connecticut in regards to the administration of benefit programs, decedent's estate administration in probate court, and strategic transfers of real estate. These are the issues that currently come to mind, but the list is by no means exhaustive. 

Introducing our New Logo...

It was an unexpectedly grueling process with our graphic designer submitting over 80 drafts for us to consider.

But after some spirited debates and a great deal of meditation we finally settled on our new (and first) logo!

Colleagues, training buddies, Facebook friends and my mother-in-law all provided helpful insight and feedback.  Thanks VERY much to everyone who helped us out with this surpirsingly challenging process. 

And now the next challenge is trying to figure out how to incorporate this logo into our weblog header.  We're on it!

Happy Friday, everyone!

The Benefits of a Technology-Oriented Practice (Part 2 of 2)

I have also become a big fan of "eFax", which is a service that converts all of your incoming faxes into e-mails. It also allows you to send out faxes as PDF attachments to e-mail messages. There are a couple of big benefits to this set-up. First, it allows me to review incoming faxes from anywhere that I have access to e-mail (which is just about anywhere...more on that below) and I don't have to be standing in front of a fax machine in the office to get a fax. Second, for a nominal monthly fee I end up saving the cost of buying a fax machine, toner, paper and the need to set up a separate fax phone line. These are big overhead cost savings that I pass onto clients with lower fees.

Then there is perhaps my best technology investment yet: an AT&T Treo 680 "smart phone". This relatively small handheld device allows me to make phone calls, work on e-mail and Word documents and browse the web wherever I am, as long as I have cell phone reception. It also contains my calendar, contact information and daily task list. It's hard to believe that a device small enough to fit in your pants pocket can do all of this, but it's true. My smart phone allows me to keep in constant contact with my clients, paralegals and colleagues even though I am out of the office a great deal visiting homebound clients and attending probate court hearings. My clients are often pleasantly surprised at how quickly I return their voicemail and e-mail messages.

By the way, I am actually drafting this post with my Treo as I am sitting here waiting to get called into a probate court hearing!

There are other very helpful technology tools in my office, but these are the big-ticket items. To borrow a term from a TV commercial, my office is not your grandfather's, or even your father's law office. I'll admit, not handling paper files has taken some getting used to. But if you look at the cost-saving factor, the ease-of-use for this kind if technology and the way in which it can dramatically improve the speed and quality of services for clients, it's hard to imagine practicing law in any other way.

The Benefits of a Technology-Oriented Law Practice (Part 1 of 2)

The relatively unique set-up of my law practice has piqued the interest of many of my clients and their family members. So I thought I would take a brief respite from blogging about legal issues and explain the nuts and bolts of my practice and why I've decided to incorporate lots of office technology into the day-to-day operations.

First, and most importantly, I have adopted a "paperless" model for my office (although, "less paper" would be a more accurate term since at least some paper is always necessary). This means that I do not actually have paper files for my clients. Those towers of manilla folders that you usually see piled up on the floor of an attorney's office does not exist in my practice. Every single document that comes into, or goes out of my office (letters, deeds, hand-written notes, etc.) is "scanned" and converted into a digital "PDF" file, which is then saved in the appropriate client's digital "folder" on my computer.

What are the benefits? First and foremost, my client files are much safer than they would be if they were in a paper format. How? Well, think about this: if I had a traditional, paper-based law practice and my office went up in flames, or if there was a flood then that would be the end of my practice...all of my files would be irretrievably lost. But with my paperless office, my files stay safe in the event of a disaster. I have a system in place which backs up all of my files to multiple locations every 24 hours. So if my computer explodes I can simply restore all of my files onto a different computer and I'm up-and-running again pretty quickly.

Another big advantage of an all-digital office is the ease with which documents can be retrieved. If a client signs a living will and then suddenly needs a copy a year later, I can have the signed document on my computer screen within a few mouse clicks. A few more clicks and the document is off to the client via e-mail. In a traditional law office, the year-old file must be hunted down, the document needs to be fished out of the file and then mailed off to the client (or faxed, ideally), all of which could take a VERY long time. And if the file has been stored at an off-site facility, then forget it...it will be days before the client can get a copy of his document.

There are all kinds of office technology available now that allows attorneys to dramatically enhance the quality of the legal services they provide. In the next post I'll discuss some other ways in which I've implemented this technology into my practice.