You may think you draft really good advance directives, but the documents you create may do little to impact the care your client receives at the end of life. The guide presents a set of eight foundational principles that help to bridge the chasm between lawyers and doctors. At its heart is a checklist for lawyers to use in guiding clients through the process of advanced care planning and documenting their wishes in a way that will be seen and honored.

The guide also offers self-help tools lawyers should provide to clients to enable clients to understand the decisions they will face and help them engage all those who may participate in future health care decisions so that there are no misunderstandings. The tools include online resources, learning tools, card games, videos, work books and conversation starters in multiple languages.

Advance Directives: Counseling Guide for Lawyers is a collaborative work by a team of organizations, lawyers and medical experts from the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, the University of California San Francisco Medical School and the UC/Hastings Consortium on Law, Science and Health Policy.

The project was funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation with support from The Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging.