State Bar
reaches out to senior lawyers
By
Patrick Kelly
President,
State Bar of California
What a difference just a few months makes. Back in January,
I wrote about the Senior Lawyers Working Group, a then-fledgling group I launched
to address the challenges facing our state’s growing population of older lawyers.
I am happy to report that the group chaired by Trustee Pearl Mann has been very
productive since then. The State Bar is already moving forward with a number of
key initiatives designed to help lawyers who choose to continue practicing into
their senior years as well as protect the public from those who can no longer
provide competent representation.
The working group plans to hold its first public
forum from 1 to 3:30 p.m. on June 3 at the State Bar’s Los Angeles office,
where members will have a chance to hear from medical and legal experts about
the clinical aspects of aging and cognitive impairment as it relates to
professional competency. The lineup of speakers is impressive. It includes Susan
Bernatz, a forensic neuropsychologist for the Los Angeles County Elder Abuse
Forensic Center at County/USC Medical Center; William Slease, chief
disciplinary counsel for the New Mexico Supreme Court; and Jay Foonberg, a
former chair of the State Bar’s Senior Lawyers Committee. I encourage you to
attend.
Also this month, Pearl Mann and fellow Trustee Karen Goodman
will take part in a panel discussion targeting issues important to senior lawyers at the State Bar’s Solo and Small Firm
Summit in Long Beach from June 20 to 22. The title of the program is “Relief
Practitioner: How to Plan for the 9th Inning of Your Legal Career." (For those of you
who cannot attend, the discussion will be repeated at the State Bar’s Annual
meeting this fall.) The panel discussion is just one of several programs
relevant to older lawyers scheduled during the solo summit. For example, an
MCLE program called “Planning for the Death or Disability of the Solo Practitioner”
will be presented from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. on June 20.
It’s hard to look at a newspaper without coming across an
article addressing the so-called “Silver Tsunami,” the ominous nickname given
to the unprecedented wave of baby boomers who are entering or about to enter their
senior years. According to the Administration on Aging, by 2030 there will be
72.1 million Americans aged 65 and older, more than twice the number there were
in 2000. Seniors will grow to represent 19 percent of the U.S. population. The
figures are similarly dramatic for California lawyers. According to a State Bar
survey, the percentage of California lawyers 55 or older grew from just 14
percent in 1991 to 48 percent in 2011.
To get ahead of the curve, the State Bar has launched a senior
lawyers web page, a collection of resources that address professional
responsibility issues that can arise in connection with retirement, disability
and the death of attorneys, including guidelines for closing or selling a law
practice. The page will be broadened and updated under the guidance of the
working group.
Fittingly, the working group has also been working with the
State Bar’s Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP) to find new ways to provide support
to the families, friends and colleagues of lawyers suffering from stress or
age-related conditions that impact their behavior and cognition. As a result of
that new relationship, the LAP has developed a helpful wellness
guide with information about how to spot dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and
the signs of depression, as well as tips for encouraging an older attorney to
make plans for their practice in case of incapacitation.
In addition, the State Bar has already developed an Attorney
Surrogacy Program to assist attorneys winding down their practice and has
published a guide book on this subject.
We at the State Bar are attempting to do all we can to
fulfill our responsibility of public protection and help senior lawyers have a
fulfilling, high quality and professional practice. We are interested in your
suggestions for building on these efforts. If you have a suggestion or a
comment, please email it to State Bar Deputy Executive Director Robert Hawley, robert.hawley@calbar.ca.gov.