Contact Us

ABA Commission on Law and Aging
American Bar Association
1050 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 662-8690
Fax: (202) 662-8698

E-mail: aging@americanbar.org
On the Web at: www.americanbar.org/aging

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Commission Staff

CHARLES P. SABATINO, J.D.
Director
charles.sabatino@americanbar.org
Research and project development in the areas of health law, long-term care decision-making, and legal services delivery.
Sabatino is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught a seminar on law and aging since 1987. He is a past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (2001-02) and is past chair of its public policy committee. Prior to joining the ABA, Mr. Sabatino was the elder law project attorney and managing attorney of the Arlington, Virginia, branch of Legal Services of Northern Virginia. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia bar associations. Mr. Sabatino received an A.B. from Cornell University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington.

ERICA F. WOOD, J.D.
Assistant Director
erica.wood@americanbar.org
Adult guardianship, legal services delivery, dispute resolution, health and long-term care, and access to court.
Wood has been associated with the Commission since 1980. She has participated in national studies on public guardianship and guardianship monitoring; and played a role in convening national consensus conferences on guardianship.  Prior to 1980, she served as staff attorney at Legal Research and Services for the Elderly, National Council of Senior Citizens. Ms. Wood is a member of the Virginia State Bar. She served on the Virginia Public Guardian and Conservator Advisory Board and the Commonwealth Council on Aging. She chaired the Arlington County Commission on Long-Term Care Residences; currently serves on the Arlington Commission on Aging. Ms. Wood received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the George Washington University. In 2013 she received the Isabella Horton Grant Guardianship Award from the National College of Probate Judges.

LORI A. STIEGEL, J.D.
Senior Attorney
lori.stiegel@americanbar.org
Elder abuse and alternatives to guardianship.
Stiegel has authored or co-authored numerous publications including Power of Attorney Abuse: What States Can Do About It – A Comparison of Current State Laws with the New Uniform Power of Attorney Act (2008); Elder Abuse Detection and Intervention: A Collaborative Approach (Springer 2007); “Undue Influence: The Criminal Justice Response” (YWCA of Omaha, 2006); and Recommended Guidelines for State Courts Handling Cases Involving Elder Abuse (ABA 1995). She serves on the editorial boards of and contributes to the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect and Victimization of the Elderly and Disabled, writing a thrice-yearly "Washington Report" column for the latter since its inception in 1998. She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Study Panel on the Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse, which produced the seminal report Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in an Aging America. She also was a contributing editor to Abuse and Neglect of Vulnerable Adult Populations (Civic Research Institute 2005) and served for eight years on the board of directors of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse. Before joining the Commission staff in 1989, she worked at the Center for Social Gerontology in Michigan, as a legal services developer at the state office on aging in Georgia, and at the Senior Advocacy Unit of Bay Area Legal Services in Tampa, Florida. She received a B.A. from the University of Florida and a J.D. from George Washington University's National Law Center in Washington. She is licensed to practice law in Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C.

DAVID M. GODFREY, J.D.
Senior Attorney
david.godfrey@americanbar.org
Legal services delivery, program development, and training for consumers and professionals.
Godfrey is responsible for the ABA’s role in the Administration on Aging funded National Legal Resource Center and for producing the National Aging and Law Conference. He is a board member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Prior to joining the Commission he was responsible for elder law programming at Access to Justice Foundation in Kentucky. Mr. Godfrey earned his B.A. with honors at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and his J.D. cum laude from the University Of Louisville School Of Law in Kentucky. 

DARI POGACH, J.D.
Staff Attorney
dari.pogach@americanbar.org
Adult guardianship, alternatives to guardianship, and supported decision-making.
Pogach has worked in adult guardianship reform and alternatives to guardianship for several years. Prior to joining the Commission, she provided direct legal services to indigent clients with disabilities. She represented individuals with mental illness as a staff attorney at Disability Rights D.C. of University Legal Services, the District of Columbia’s protection and advocacy program for people with disabilities. She assisted individuals with developmental disabilities seeking alternatives to guardianship as a staff attorney at the Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities. Pogach has also represented respondent parents in child abuse and neglect cases in New York City. Pogach has substantive experience in policy and legislative advocacy, and has testified at numerous legislative hearings, provided comments to proposed regulations, and written public reports with recommendations for improving local laws and practices. She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. from Washington College of Law.

Vacant
Editor
Editor of Bifocal, Journal of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, Commission books and publications, and Web page.

SONIA M. ARCE
Office Manager
sonia.arce@americanbar.org
Budget planning, financial management/oversight, and meeting planning.

TRISHA BULLOCK
Editorial Assistant
trisha.bullock@americanbar.org
Office services, meetings, record keeping, website maintenance and social media and responding to general requests for information.

Expertise

The ABA Commission on Law and Aging can provide background to the media on a range of issues relating to law and aging, including:

• Guardianship and conservatorship
• Elder abuse, neglect and exploitation
• Mental capacity, aging and surrogate decision-making
• Health care decision-making and advance directives
• Medicare, Medicaid and long-term care
• Elder Law and the delivery of legal assistance to older persons

Contact the Division for Media Relations and Communication Services for expert contacts.

If you don't see what you’re looking for, contact the ABA main office at (202) 662-1090 or (312) 988-6171. General press inquiries can also be sent to abanews@americanbar.org.

Subscription and Discussion Lists

Bifocal subscription list. Bifocal, the Commission's bi-monthly journal, provides timely, valuable legal resources pertaining to older persons, generated through the joint efforts of public and private bar groups and the aging network. Subscribe using the form below.

Discussion lists. The Commission provides a forum for legal professionals to communicate and share ideas on three active discussion lists:

• Elderbar, a discussion list for professionals in law and aging;
• Collaborate, a discussion list on aging, disability, and dispute resolution (jointly sponsored by the Commission and the Association for Conflict Resolution’s Elder Decisions Section); and
• Elderlink, a discussion list for ABA members and staff to discuss law and aging programming being developed by ABA interest groups.
• AgingSolo, a discussion list for professionals working on the issue of persons aging without readily identifiable family or friends.   

In order to maintain lists with relevant participants, we ask that you email the commission  and provide the name of the list(s) you're interested in on the subject line. In the body of your email please include your mailing address and phone number. 

Support Us

Help us continue to improve the lives of older Americans.

—Write a Check—
Make payable to Fund for Justice and Education (designate ABA Commission on Law and Aging on memo line) and mail to:

ABA Commission on Law & Aging
1050 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036

—Donate Online—
Please visit: https://donate.americanbar.org/cola

—Call Us—
Discuss a specific gift of support at: (202) 662-8690. Your contribution is tax-deductible.