News & Events

Massachusetts NAELA Legislative Breakfast

Margolis  Bloom LLP is hosting a legislative breakfast for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys in our Boston office.

The Chairwomen of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, and Representative Alice K. Wolf, have agreed to co-sponsor and attend this event.  Chairwoman of the Joint Committee of Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, Representative Kay Kahn, who is also a sponsor of the legislation filed by MA NAELA which allows family members to enter into personal care contracts with one another, is also co-sponsoring this event.

This breakfast is an ideal opportunity to meet the Chairwomen of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs and our Suffolk and Middlesex County legislators to encourage their support for pending legislation of importance to Massachusetts seniors. Co-hosted by Chairwoman Patricia D. Jehlen, Chairwoman Alice K. Wolf, Chairwoman Kay Kahn, & Margolis Bloom LLP

When: Monday, June 22, 2009
8:00 a.m.  Networking with breakfast buffet
8:30 a.m.  Presentation of MA NAELA's Legislative Agenda

Where:  Margolis  Bloom, LLP
535 Boylston Street, 8th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02116

R.S.V.P. to Jamie B. Marshall at jbm@margolis.com or 617-267-9700

Paralegal Course
Time: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Continental breakfast and lunch provided
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston, 70 Third Ave. (Exit 27A, Totten Pond Road from I95 [Rte. 128], Waltham, MA
Speakers: Attorneys Holly Harris, Eric Oalican and Stephen Spano, and their paralegals Andrea Kalligheri, Helen Levesque, and Jill Pizzuto

Program Summary: MassNAELA's third annual Paralegal Course will review the steps involved in preparing and filing a MassHealth application. Emphasis will be on preparing and filing applications for long-term-care benefits, however applications for Community MassHealth benefits will also be discussed. The program is open to MassNAELA's attorney members and their staff.

The speakers will walk attendees through the MassHealth application process, covering such topics as:

• Collecting information from clients and other sources
• Identifying potential issues
• Last minute spenddown strategies
• Preparing the MassHealth application, Long Term Care Supplement, Adult Disability Supplement and related forms
• Information that should be submitted with the application
• Filing the application – timing, what to file, where to file
• What to expect after the application is filed
• Responding to MassHealth's Request for Verifications
• Communicating with MassHealth
• What to do when the application is approved or denied, including discussion of post-application follow-up and the appeals process
• Differences in the application process for Community MassHealth benefits

The lunchtime panel discussion will review tips and tricks from the panel and the audience related to the MassHealth application process. 

Attendees are encouraged to submit Tips and Tricks in advance of the program by e-mail to Maria Baler at baler@ssbllc.com, or to bring them to the event. Attendees should bring their business cards to exchange with other attendees for networking purposes.

Speakers:
Holly K. Harris is in private practice in Norwell, Massachusetts, concentrating in estate and disability planning, long-term care planning, special needs trusts for individuals with disabilities, guardianship, and estate administration.  Prior to opening her own office in 2001, Ms. Harris was in private practice for 15 years after having served as a legal services attorney, a public defender, and an Assistant United States Attorney handling both civil and criminal cases in the District of Vermont and the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association (Probate Section), the Plymouth County Bar Association, the Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts, and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). She is a Board member of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA, serving as chair of the Membership Committee.  She was recently honored as Chapter Member of the Year for 2008.

Eric R. Oalican is a partner in the Boston elder law firm of Cohen & Oalican, LLP, where he specializes in representing the legal needs of the elderly and disabled. Mr. Oalican concentrates his practice in the areas of estate, disability and long-term care planning. A former chairman of the Elder Law Practice Group for the Massachusetts Bar Association's Probate Council, Mr. Oalican is also a frequent lecturer on elder law issues for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, the Massachusetts Bar Association, Health Education Network and the Boston Tax Institute. Mr. Oalican authored the Older Clients and Long-Term Care Chapter for Drafting Estate Plans (MCLE, Inc. rev. ed.2004). He is the chairman of the MCLE seminars' Elder Law Litigation and Advocacy, Advising Elders in Crisis and Elder Law Basics for Paralegals. Mr. Oalican is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Bar Associations.

Stephen J. Spano is a principal with The Law Offices of Spano & Dawicki, a firm concentrating in Elderlaw, Medicaid (planning, applications and appeals), Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts. He is Vice President of The National Elder Law Foundation, a Member of the Board of Directors and past President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, a member of the Board of Directors of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, The Community Family, Greater Medford VNA, Greater Lynn Senior Services and a founding Board member of The Massachusetts Guardianship Association. He is Board Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation.

Senior Paralegals. In addition to the attorney speakers, the panel will also include senior paralegals Andrea Kalligheri of The Law Offices of Spano & Dawicki, Helen Levesque of the Law Office of Holly K. Harris, and Jill Pizzuto of Cohen & Oalican, LLP.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys invites you to be our guest at our South Shore Legislative Breakfast

Co-hosted by Senator Robert L. Hedlund and Representative Garret J. Bradley

8 a.m. - Sign-in and networking with breakfast buffet

8:45 a.m. - Presentation of the Legislative Agenda affecting seniors and professionals who work with seniors

Seasons Café at Linden Ponds
203 Linden Ponds Way
Hingham, MA  02043

RSVP: Elder Law Office of Judith M. Flynn or 781-740-2288 by June 1, 2009

South Shore Legislative Breakfast Committee: Judith M. Flynn, Esq., Leanna Hamill, Esq., Holly Harris, Esq., Alexis Levitt, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Ken Anding and  Michael Hammonds will lead  a discussion on the General and Specific Use of Annuities--Technical Aspects of fixed and variable contracts including taxes, transfers and assignments.

Program Summary: Massachusetts NAELA members, like those in most States, have observed a "hostile" Medicaid environment since the enactment of the DRA of 2005, with its Draconian changes to rules regarding "transfer of resources."

MassHealth sees transfers everywhere. This hostility is observed at every level of MassHealth operations. Workers consult with the MassHealth Legal Department, which often issues memoranda (always counseling denial with a justification for the worker to rely on). Some memos are "secret" - not available to the applicant or counsel, even when it was the basis for a denial!  Fair hearing officers typically appear and act as if clearly pre-disposed to deny appeals, with such regularity that many MassNAELA members are convinced that appellants are not afforded fair and impartial hearings.

Examples of unfair hearings abound: denials where an institutionalized spouse transferred his title to the marital home to the community spouse, where the client purchased a permissible annuity, where caretaker services in an adult child's home were held to be of zero value.  In addition, procedural irregularities such as ex parte communications with hearing officers and denial of access to appellants' files are all too common.

What can we do when our clients are experiencing these inappropriate or even lawless behaviors?

To address these systemic problems, MassNAELA has embarked on an ambitious "Litigation Initiative" to assist members whose clients are experiencing inappropriate or even lawless behaviors.

One of the first steps in the Initiative is to raise everyone's awareness of the issues and help them prepare for litigation on their clients' behalf, whether ultimately litigated by them alone or with the help of the MassNAELA Litigation Initiative.

The June 2 panelists, all top notch elder law litigators, will discuss the Do's and Don'ts when members assist clients with applications and/or fair hearings and how to establish a solid record in the event that only an appeal to the court will afford the client the correct result. The program will explain the Litigation Initiative, and its advantages to members and will preview upcoming Litigation Initiative in-depth training workshops for those who want to learn more about litigating issues in a hostile MassHealth environment.

Speakers
William J. Brisk, Esq. Bill, a former President of the Massachusetts Chapter of NAELA, NAELA Fellow and a Certified Elder Law Attorney, practices in Newton on all aspects of elder law including litigation. He co-authored the recent second edition of Massachusetts Elder Law (Lexis Publications). His publications include law review articles on guardianship, ethics, and Medicaid. He teaches a course on End of Life at Suffolk University Law School.

John J. Ford, Esq. John J. Ford has been the director of the elder law project at Neighborhood Legal Services in Lynn since 1977. In addition to being a past president of MANAELA (1999), he is a former president of the Board of the South Boston Community Health Center, is a member of the advisory committee of the Alzheimer's Association of Massachusetts, and of the advisory committee of the paralegal program of the North Shore Community College. He is a member of the board of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association and its former president. He is the chairman emeritus of the Elderly Legal Coalition, a statewide advocacy group. He is a graduate of Boston University and B.U. School of Law.

Carol Cioe Klyman, Esq. Carol is a shareholder of Shatz, Schwartz & Fentin, P.C. in Springfield and Northampton, Mass., who concentrates her practice in the areas of elder law, estate planning, special needs planning, estate settlement, guardianships, and trust and estates litigation.  Attorney Klyman is a contributing author of the three-volume treatise, "Estate Planning for the Aged or Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts," (MCLE,1998), considered one of the leading publications in the field.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave., Waltham, MA
Topic: Uniform Probate Code - The July, 2009 Changes
Speakers: John J. Ford, Esq., Wynn A. Gerhard, Esq. and Mark A. Leahy, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Do you know the different types and uses of life insurance? What do you do with policies at a time of crisis? Ken Anding will help lead the discussion of Life Insurance 101 and some creative solutions with different types of policies. Bring your questions!!!

Program Summary: The Uniform Probate Code is finally here. It was signed into law by Governor Patrick on January 15, 2009. Article V, the guardianship section, becomes effective on July 1, 2009. This program will focus on the impact of the UPC on our clients and our practice, including:

• New definitions
• Guardianship after July 1st
• Conservatorship after July 1st
• Affirmation of Health Care Proxies
• Durable Powers of Attorney
• Court implementation

Speakers
John J. Ford, Esq. is the director of the elder law project at Neighborhood Legal Services in Lynn. In addition to being a past president of the Chapter, he is president of the board of the South Boston Community Health Center, and is a member of the advisory committee and the advocacy committee of the Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Association of Eastern Massachusetts, and of the advisory committee to the paralegal program of North Shore Community College. Mr. Ford is the cochair of the Massachusetts Guardianship Task Force and the chairman emeritus of the Elder Legal Coalition, a statewide advocacy group. He is a graduate of Boston University and Boston University School of Law.

Wynn A. Gerhard, Esq. has been the managing attorney of the Elder Law Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services for the past 17 years. Her practice consists of elder law issues, health and income benefits, nursing home issues, guardianship issues and housing issues.

Mark A. Leahy, Esq. is the Reporter for the Joint MBA/BBA Committee on the Uniform Probate Code and a draftsman of the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. He is an attorney practicing in Hingham, Massachusetts. A graduate of Middlebury College, Suffolk University Law School (JD) and Boston University School of Law (LLM), he has practiced probate, trust and estate law since 1979. Mark is also a member of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, formerly the Massachusetts Bar Association Probate Section Council, and a frequent lecturer on probate reform, estate planning and settlement of estates.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Elder Law Institute XV
Maximizing Community Benefits - Suffolk University Law School

Home and other community based programs have been vastly under-utilized as a resource to assist elders in maintaining the least restrictive living arrangements. While many Elder Law attorneys have significant experience in obtaining MassHealth benefits for clients in skilled nursing facilities, a fewer number have experience in assisting elders with obtaining assistance (both financially and medically) that allows the elder to maintain the highest level of independence. Maximizing Community Benefits will focus on programs and benefits for elders whose living arrangements have them in places other than skilled nursing facilities.

Multi-site Breakfast Meeting
Topic: After the Documents: Next Steps in Health Care Decision Making and End of Life Planning
Time: 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Location:
Holiday Inn Marlborough, 265 Lakeside Ave., Marlborough, MA 508-481-3000
Country Club of Halifax, 100 Country Club Dr., Halifax, MA 781-293-9061
Holiday Inn Peabody, 1 Newbury St. (Rte. 1 Northbound), Peabody, MA 978-535-4600
The Hotel Northampton, 36 King St., Northampton, MA 413-584-3100
Speakers:
Marlboro: Site Coordinator/Moderator: Denise Yurkofsky, Esq.; Speakers: William J. Brisk, Esq., Newton, Massachusetts, Sheila Trugman, M.D., Medical Director at the Jewish Healthcare Center and Medical Director of the Jewish Home Hospice, and Melissa P. Brennan, Esq., Office of the General Counsel at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. in Boston
Halifax: Site Coordinator/Moderator: Phil Murphy, Esq.; Speakers: Judith M. Flynn, Esq., Hingham, Massachusetts, Gary Zalkin, Esq., Wellesley, Massachusetts, Cathy Congo is President and CEO of Old Colony Hospice, Randolph, Massachusetts
Peabody: Site Coordinator/Moderator: Margot Birke, Esq.; Speakers: Faith Delaney, Esq., Haverhill, Massachusetts, Stephanie Patel, M.D., Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care; and Robert Ledoux, Esq., Ethics Advisory Panelist for North Shore Medical Center, Northeast Health Systems, Kindred Hospital and Hospice of the North Shore
Northampton: Site Coordiantor/Moderator: Todd C. Ratner, Esq.; Speakers: Todd C. Ratner, Esq., Springfield, Massachusetts, and Patricia Riggs, Hospice Manager at VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickinson, Inc., Northampton, Massachusetts

Program Summary: We prepare health care proxies, living wills and HIPAA releases for clients but have we prepared our clients for the difficult situations that could arise? What can our clients do to make sure their wishes are carried out? What can we as their attorneys do to help them avoid problems? This year's multi-site breakfast program will focus on the practical issues faced by families and health care agents in health care decision making. The panel at each site will consist of an attorney with experience drafting estate planning documents, a medical professional with significant end-of-life experience who will speak to the clinical side of these issues, and an attorney who either represents hospitals/medical facilities or has experience resolving problems that arise in connection with medical decision making. The panelists' discussion will include the following issues, and a review of hypothetical situations which will highlight how these issues are handled in the "real world":

• Attorney practices in drafting, executing and distributing the health care proxy, living will and HIPAA release.
• Tools attorneys can provide to clients to help initiate conversations clients need to have with their health care agents about their medical care wishes.
• Ethical and drafting considerations if client has particular religious views or has a defibrillator or pacemaker.
• Issues concerning organ donation and cremation.
• Use of Do Not Resuscitate and other comfort care forms.
• Warring family members - resolving conflict over medical decision-making.
• Issues related to the principal's decisions about his own health care.
• Revocation and affirmation of the health care proxy.
• When is a Rogers guardianship needed?
• What is outside the scope of medical decision-making?

Directions to The Hotels

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave., Waltham, MA
Topic: Irrevocable Income-Only Trusts in Medicaid Planning
Speakers: John McNicholas, Esq. and Ann Weber, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: The pre-dinner meeting will focus on issues of the settlement and administration of estates. Specifically, a timetable and update of procedures to probate estates (testate and intestate) will be discussed, with emphasis on the role of the non-fiduciary attorney. Bring your questions!!!

Program Summary: Irrevocable Income-Only Trusts. Probably all of us have used them for Medicaid planning to protect the home, or other excess assets. Did you take a boiler-plate off the shelf and fire away? Or did you stop to consider all the elements first? We'll discuss many of the issues in this program, including:

• Single grantor or joint grantors
• Choice of trustee
• Grantors powers over trustees
• Use of Trust Protector
• Distribution to grantors
• Distributions to others
• Funding the trust
• Planning techniques in other jurisdictions
• Tax impacts

Speakers
John McNicholas, Esq. of McNicholas & Proulx, LLP in Medfield, Massachusetts has been in private practice since 1977. From 1980 – 1986, he also managed the Legal Services Program for King Philip Elder Services (now HESSCO) covering a 12 town area in Norfolk County. Jack is active nationally in NAELA and serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Chapter. He is also involved in many community organizations, most notably Medfield Community Cable Access Corporation where, as President of the Board of Directors, he helped to negotiate the town's License Agreements with Comcast and Verizon. Jack appears regularly on two local access television programs, often with Representative Richard Ross, discussing and advocating for the concerns of elders.

Ann ("Ami") Weber, Esq. is a partner at Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. She has been practicing law since 1985 and has authored or co-authored over 20 articles concerning tax, estate planning or elder law. A former employee of the Internal Revenue Service, Ami has been recognized as one of the top women lawyers in the field of estate planning by Massachusetts Super Lawyers and as a Best Lawyer in America in elder law.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave. Exit 27A, Totten Pond Road from I95 [Rte. 128], Waltham, MA
Topic: KEEPING CURRENT: The Latest from National NAELA and What's Happening on the Hill?
Speakers: Susan Levin, Esq., Newton, MA; Stephen J. Silverberg, Esq., East Meadow, NY; Deborah Thomson, Esq., Boston, MA

This is an OPEN MEETING. Non-members and non-attorneys are welcome to attend. The fee for non-members is the same as for members.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Debra Murphy is the principal of Vista Consulting which recently launched Masterful MarketingTM, an 8-step marketing system that caters to the business owner who needs help marketing their professional service business. Debra will share her ideas on the best bang for your marketing buck, social media marketing, and personal branding.  She will also answer all your questions about marketing in the 21st century and the era of Web 2.0.

Program Summary: Big changes have occurred at the national level with respect to national NAELA, not the least of which is the relocation of its headquarters from Arizona to Washington, D.C. Incoming NAELA president Stephen J. Silverberg will update us on the progress of the move and other changes in the organization, and discuss how these changes will benefit NAELA members. Steve will also talk about his vision for the organization during the coming year and alert attendees to possible federal legislative action we should anticipate in light of the broad based financial crisis and the change in the political administration.

Speakers
Attorney Susan H. Levin, Esq., is a partner at Rosenberg, Freedman & Goldstein in Newton, MA, practicing exclusively in the areas of Medicaid and elder law. She is the author of the chapter, "Medicaid and Resource Planning," in Estate Planning for the Aging and Incapacitated Client in Massachusetts, (MCLE, 1998 - 2007). She also co-authored "Medicaid: Strategies for Resource Planning" for the Elder Law Portfolio Series, Portfolio 14, Aspen Law & Business, (December 2000).

Attorney Levin was selected in September 2007 for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialty of Elder Law. She is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and serves on the National NAELA Public Policy Committee.  In 1999 and 2002, The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys chose her as Outstanding Chapter member. She received her law degree from Boston University.

Stephen J. Silverberg, Esq.,  a Partner in the Trusts and Estates Practice Group at Certilman Balin, Adler & Hyman, LLP, located in East Meadow, New York, is a nationally known estate planning and elder law attorney who addresses professional conferences throughout the country on complex tax and elder law issues.  In 2007, and again in 2008, he received the "Super Lawyer" rating in both estate planning and elder law.

Steve is a Fellow of NAELA and has served on its Board of Directors, as Chairman of its Tax Special Interest Group, Technology Committee and the Task Force on Estate Tax Reform.  He is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA).  He is a founding member and currently serves as the Treasurer of the New York State Chapter of NAELA.  Steve has served as a member of the Board of Directors and as an Officer of Elder Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.  He is also an active member of the Nassau County Bar Association's Elder Law, Social Services and Health Advocacy Committees, and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Nassau County.

Steve is a widely quoted expert on elder law and estate planning matters and has been quoted in Newsday, Business Week, US News and World Report, and Kiplingers.  He has written articles for Trusts and Estates Magazine, The Nassau Lawyer and the New York State Bar Monthly News.  He has lectured extensively on a variety of estate planning, elder law, and deferred compensation planning issues.

Steve earned a Bachelor of Arts from Hartwick College in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 1976.  He is admitted to practice in New York and Florida.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave. Exit 27A, Totten Pond Road from I95 [Rte. 128], Waltham, MA
Topic: MassHealth Planning For Real Estate That Is Not the Primary Residence
Speaker: Edward Adamsky, Esq., Tyngsboro, MA; Nancy Catalini Chew, Esq., Harvard, MA; Daintria W. McClure, Esq., Westborough, MA

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: Websites. Search engine optimization. Blogs. So much technology, so little time. What's an attorney to do? Karen Callahan of Adventures Online will talk about these areas and everything else there is to know about websites. They're not just pretty, digital brochures. They can be powerful marketing tools. Karen has been designing, developing and hosting websites for over 10 years and has seen the pop trends, and the technology that lasts. She understands not only the cosmetic aspects of websites, but the behind the scenes programming, marketing implications, and how it all impacts your business. Join us, and bring all your website questions.

Program Summary: In our practices we often encounter clients that own real estate that is not their home – residential or commercial rental property, a vacation home, or property that was formerly the client's primary residence but is no longer now that the client is residing in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or with a family member.

The panelists will review the various planning strategies that should be considered for such property when planning for MassHealth qualification for the single individual, or a member of a couple, including use of the MassHealth rule that allows business and non-business property essential to self-support to be considered a non-countable asset. The panelists will also discuss strategies that can be employed to avoid estate recovery against such property at the MassHealth recipient's death.

Discussion of these strategies will include the real estate considerations that should be taken into account when planning to avoid creating title issues. The income tax implications of different strategies, ownership forms or transfers of the property will also be discussed, including the new capital gain tax rules for a primary residence that is or has been rental property.

Speakers
Edward H. Adamsky, Esq. of the Adamsky Law Offices has been in the private practice of law for 15 years, and is licensed to practice in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He concentrates his practice in Life & Estate Planning and Elder Law. Ed is past Chair of the Elder Law, Estate Planning and Probate Section of the New Hampshire Bar Association, Past President of the Merrimack Valley Estate Planning Council, and a member of the New Hampshire Estate Planning Council. He is a board member of the New Hampshire and Massachusetts Chapters of NAELA, and also sits on the Board of Region 10, Community Support Services, a New Hampshire agency that provides services to developmentally disabled individuals and families. Ed is a cum laude graduate of the Massachusetts School of Law in Andover, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, and a summa cum laude graduate of Plymouth State College, (now Plymouth State University) in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Ed also served for four years in the United States Army, Infantry.

Nancy Catalini Chew, Esq. is a graduate of Boston College Law School and was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1996. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography, summa cum laude, from the University of New Hampshire, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Nancy practices exclusively in the areas of estate planning and elder law, and has been in private practice since 1999. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys—including its Massachusetts Chapter—as well as the Massachusetts Bar Association and the North Middlesex Bar Association. Prior to entering private practice Nancy worked as a labor attorney for the federal government.

Daintria W. McClure, Esq. practices in the areas of Estate Planning and Elder Law. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Maine and Florida, and before the U.S. Tax Court and the U. S. Supreme Court. She is also a Certified Public Accountant, earning her undergraduate degree in Finance from The Ohio State University. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School. Daintria is a member of the Massachusetts, Maine and Florida Bar Associations, the AAA-CPA (American Association of Attorney-CPAs), and the MSCPA (Massachusetts Society of CPAs). She has offices in Westborough and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Rockland, Maine.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston

Suffolk University Law School and MA NAELA

The 11th Annual Northeast Elder Law Symposium: Navigating the Medicaid System in a Hostile World

Co-sponsored with the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Location: Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA

Schedule and Registration information

Dinner and Board Meeting
Time: Pre-Dinner Program 5:00 p.m.; Program 6:00 p.m.
Location: Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston; 70 Third Ave. Exit 27A, Totten Pond Road from I95 [Rte. 128], Waltham, MA
Topic: Executive Office of Elder Affairs – The Who, What, When, Where and How
Speaker: Secretary Michael E. Festa, Esq.

Pre-Dinner Program Summary: "Ask the Techs" - We will have representatives from LANConnect Systems, Inc. of Natick on hand to answer all your law office technology questions. Julie Sears and Michael Kingston will lead this informative and interactive discussion covering such topics as going paperless, back-ups, e-mail archiving, and Internet security. Plan to attend and learn what new areas you should know about within your office.

Program Summary: We will welcome Secretary Michael E. Festa as our guest speaker. Secretary Festa has headed up the Executive Office of Elder Affairs under the Patrick administration since October 2007. Working closely with Governor Patrick and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary Festa is actively supporting a "community first" agenda for seniors and the disabled. Secretary Festa will focus his talk on:

• Community First Policy and Initiative
• Housing Options
• Protective Services
• Relationship between EOEA, Health and Human Services and the Office of Medicaid

He will also take questions at the end of his presentation, and explain exactly what the EOEA does for our elder clients and how we can help them avail themselves of these services.

Speaker:
Michael E. Festa, Esq. is the Secretary of Elder Affairs. He has been involved in public service for almost 35 years and has been practicing law since 1979. Born and raised in Melrose, Massachusetts, where he currently resides, Mr. Festa received his B.A. from Tufts University and his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. He began his law career as an Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County, and was in private practice for over 25 years. Secretary Festa's political career has included the Melrose School Committee, Alderman-at-Large in Melrose, State Representative and now Secretary of Elder Affairs. Over the years Mr. Festa has championed many senior health care initiatives and won awards for legislative achievements. In addition, he has been married 28 years to Sandra (Oro) Festa, and has two children, Michael, age 25 and Danielle Festa, age 23. Mr. Festa is well known as a passionate gardener (he's been doing a local cable show on gardening for over 10 years) and enjoys model ship-building.

Directions to The Westin Hotel Waltham-Boston