Outcomes Assessment Report: ABA Commission Is a Highly Valued and Effective National Legal Resource Center for the Law and Aging Community

In the Spring of 2008, the ABA Commission contracted with a national consulting firm to conduct an outcomes-based assessment of its work under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging grant. Using an online survey and interviews with key stakeholders, results indicate overwhelmingly that the ABA Commission is a highly valued resource for the law and aging community. Read more about the assessment, including areas identified for growth, here.

The ABA strongly supports passage of the Elder Justice Act. Read a summary of the Elder Justice Act, the ABA position on the Act, and the statement of Joseph D. O'Connor, Chair, ABA Commission on Law and Aging, on behalf of the ABA, submitted to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House or Representatives on the Subject of the Elder Justice Act here.

The ABA Commission on Law and Aging and the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging are pleased to announce the 2008 Partnerships in Law and Aging Awards. This year the program made a total of six grants to encourage development of collaborative, law-related projects that promote elder rights and improve access to the justice system.

This is the tenth year of the Partnerships in Law and Aging Program. The Request for Proposals for the next funding cycle will be available in December 2008, and will be announced in Bifocal, on the Commission Website, and Commission listservs.

The projects begin on July 1, 2008. See the list of organizations funded, their partners, and a description of the projects here.

No Longer on Their Own: Using Emeritus Attorney Pro Bono Programs to Meet Unmet Civil Legal Needs
This new brochure is designed to help states successfully recruit emeritus pro bono attorneys to provide critically needed legal services to vulnerable seniors and low- and moderate individuals who are now facing their legal problems on their own. PDFs and limited print copies are available for free from the ABA Commission. E-mail your request to the ABA Commission at abaaging@abanet.org. View the PDF version of the brochure here.

See a list of states and jurisdictions that have enacted emeritus pro bono rules, the year the rules were applied, and contact information for a person responsible for overseeing the implementation of the rule here.

ABA Adopts Voting Rights and Cognitive Impairment Policy Submitted by Commission on Law and Aging
The ABA House of Delegates adopted a voting rights and cognitive impairment policy submitted by the Commission on Law and Aging, at its annual meeting on August 13.

The policy is based upon the joint effort of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, and the Capital Government Center on Law and Policy at the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. The groups hosted a working symposium of national experts in law and aging, medicine, long-term care, voting technology, and elections administration entitled Facilitating Voting As People Age: Implications of Cognitive Impairment, which convened in March 2007 at the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.

Read the full report and recommendation

Introduction to and Summary of the Voting Symposium, 38 McGeorge L. Rev. 843 (2007)

Recommendations of the Symposium Facilitating Voting As People Age: Implications of Cognitive Impairment

State Provisions Regarding Voting: Constitutions, Election Laws, and Guardianship Statutes

Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Psychologists

American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging and American Psychological Association Assessment of Capacity in Older Adults Project Working Group. This handbook is designed for psychologists evaluating civil capacities of older adults. Contemporary probate law encourages functional assessments that describe task-specific deficits rather than global findings. With training in standardized cognitive and functional assessment, psychologists are in an ideal position to provide such evaluations. The specific goal of this handbook is to review psychological assessment of six civil capacities of particular importance to older adults, namely, medical consent capacity, sexual consent capacity, financial capacity, testamentary capacity, capacity to drive, and capacity to live independently. The handbook also addresses the important topic of undue influence and introduces emerging areas of interest, such as the capacity to mediate, the capacity to participate in research, and the capacity to vote. Relevant literature, suggestions for assessment tools, and case examples are provided throughout. 146 pp. 2008. To order your copy for $25, e-mail the ABA Commission at abaaging@abanet.org, or order online at http://www.abanet.org/aging/publications/publicationslistorder.shtml#capacity.

Guardianship After 25 Years: In the Best Interest of Incapacitated People? Authored by Pamela Teaster, Erica Wood, Winsor Schmidt, and Susan Lawrence, the report includes extensive site visit studies of seven programs; an update on state models of public guardianship or guardianship of last resort; conclusions and recommendations, a model public guardianship act; statutory and programmatic profiles of each state's system of public guardianship or guardianship of last resort; and statutory charts. For more information, or to order print copies of the executive summary for $5 and the full report for $30, contact the ABA Commission at abaaging@abanet.org. View the Executive Summary here.

Guarding the Guardians: Promising Practices for Court Monitoring By Naomi Karp and Erica Wood. This report describes methods for helping courts protect some of our society's most vulnerable people. Through site visits to exemplary courts, the authors have identified promising approaches that can be replicated by courts around the country. 91 pp. December 2007. View and download the full report from the Web page of the AARP Public Policy Institute at: http://www.aarp.org/research/legal/guardianships/
2007_21_guardians.html.

Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Programs: A Win-Win Solution By Ellen M. Klem. This report is a study of volunteer guardianship monitoring projects initiated by AARP in 1990. PDFs and limited print copies are available for free from the ABA Commission. E-mail your request to the ABA Commission at abaaging@abanet.org. View the PDF version of the report here.

See all the publications from the ABA Commission on Law and Aging