Sponsored with the Rhode Island Bar Association and the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA

Date: Wednesday, May 24, & June 15, 2000

Location: Wednesday, May 24 - Warwick, RI; Thursday, June 15, Boston, MA
Time: 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

The morning mail has arrived and in the pile on your desk is an unopened letter. You look at it curiously and see the return address for the Board of Bar Overseers. Later that week, a deputy sheriff comes by and serves you with a complaint for malpractice.

You're not having a good week, and you are sitting at your desk looking at your active files and photos of your family asking yourself, "Why did this happen?"

That answer is simple. A client is unhappy. How it happened may be a little less clear. Avoiding it in the first place may involve some attention to practice management skills, avoiding conflicts of interest, and being attentive to client needs, especially if you are dealing with complicated family situations. Defending it effectively will depend on whether or not you have adequate management systems in place.

This program addresses the effect of representing impaired clients in the attorney client relationship, clients under guardianship, incompetents seeking legal representation, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, special issues of estate planning and elder law practice including ancillary businesses and multi-disciplinary practice, substantive issues arising out of Medicaid, qualified funds, exempt transfers, trusts and homes.

You will learn about the ethical considerations when dealing with the elderly client as well as the top ten malpractice minefields and myths.

David J. Correira, Esq., Chair concentrates his practice in the areas of wills and trusts, estate planning, elder law and probate in Swansea, MA. He received his B.A. from Bridgewater State College, a MPA from the University of Rhode Island, and his J.D. from the New England School of Law. He is a member of the American, RI, MA, and Bristol County Bar Associations. He is Past-President of the Bristol County Estate Planning Council and a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and is a Director of the Massachusetts Chapter.

William J. Brisk, Esq. is both a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and a Certified Elder Law Attorney. He received his A.B. from Brown University, Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and J.D. from NYU School of Law. Bill is co-author of Massachusetts Elder Law and of its predecessor Legal Planning for the Elderly in Massachusetts (through six annual updates). A frequent lecturer on elder law topics, he has, for the past four years, delivered the "ethics" presentation to NAELA's annual Basics of Elder Law meetings. Bill has served as President of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA, Co-Editor of NAELA NEWS, Associate Editor of the Massachusetts Law Review, and as NAELA's representative to the Massachusetts Bar Association's Board of Delegates.

Professor Rosanna Cavallaro, Suffolk U. Law School, received her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, she clerked for Judge Thomas A. Flannery, U.S. District for D.C. She then served three years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Government Bureau. In 1990, she became an associate at Peckham, Lobel, Casy, Prince & Tye and in 1991, she became an associate of Alan Dershowitz. She teaches Criminal Law, Evidence, and Professional Responsibility.

Elizabeth A. DelPadre, Esq. works in the Rhode Island Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel as attorney for the Ethics Advisory Panel and for the Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct. She was in private practice for ten years, and also worked in the Civil Division of the Department of the Attorney General. She is a graduate of Suffolk U. Law School where she was Lead Article Editor of the Suffolk Law Review. She is a former law clerk for RI Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger. She is also on the adjunct faculty in the Justice Studies department at Roger Williams University.

Mark B. Heffner, Esq. is the principal of Heffner and Associates, an eight-person law firm concentrating in Medicaid planning and practice, guardianships, probate and estate planning. Serving his fifth term as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, Mr. Heffner has chaired legislative commissions which have produced laws reforming and modernizing Rhode Island's guardianship and probate statutes. Mr. Heffner has been a NAELA member since 1990, and has spoken at regional and national symposia. He received his A.B., cum laude from Harvard University in 1977, and his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1982.

Constance V. Vecchione is First Assistant Bar Counsel at the Office of Bar Counsel of the Board of Bar Overseers. She has been with the Office of Bar Counsel since 1980. She has also been a Superior Court Law Clerk (1974-75) and in private practice (1975-1980). Ms. Vecchione is a 1970 graduate of Brandeis University and a 1974 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.