The PDF which includes endnotes and footnotes in which this article appears can be found in Bifocal Vol. 45 Issue5.
Throughout the 25 years of my public interest law career, there have been only two conferences which were my enduring favorites and meant the most to me each year. One is the National Aging and Law Conference or NALC. Why? For those of us serving older Americans, I have found it is the place to brainstorm solutions to poverty, abuse, ageism, and injustice with the nation’s premiere leaders and most zealous advocates, creating new and strengthening existing relationships and partnerships. That's why attending the 2024 NALC at the University of Miami Law School, the first in-person convening since the pandemic, was a priority for me. And why I encouraged two judges from Pennsylvania who lead our state’s elder justice initiatives to take time from their busy dockets to attend and present on our work with our Supreme Court (more on that later).
The 2024 NALC was notably different from the dozens I've attended in the past, all of which have been held in the D.C. area and usually involved numerous pre-meetings with fellow advocates on Capitol Hill, with ACL, and other leaders. Being in Miami this year was different, intimate and yes, tropical. (Miami experienced record-breaking heat with a heat index of 112 degrees - even my Floridian friends were complaining, but the A/C was delightful). The law school's campus was lush and lovely, and the opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues I’ve not seen in person since the pandemic and to build new relationships with advocates across the country -- all invested deeply in seeking justice for older Americans — priceless.
This Conference was the first hosted by the new Director of the Commission on Law and Aging, Erica Costello. In her introductory remarks, Erica joked that she was an attorney, not an event planner. One would never know. She and the ABA team from COLA, the Senior Lawyers Committee, and The Center for Public Interest Law, including Trisha Bullock, Jessica Brock, Jacob Rasch and Tracey Moore, were meticulously prepared, calm, cool and unflappable, even in the Miami heat.
I was proud to present at this year’s NALC about our bold and successful initiatives in elder justice and guardianship reform in Pennsylvania, with my esteemed colleagues Judge Lois Murphy and Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper, Chair and Vice Chair respectively of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Elder Justice. How fortunate are those of us who have members of the Bench who care deeply about and step up to advocate for due process, fairness and access to justice, going beyond their daily roles and responsibilities as jurists and helping to make transformational change.
Our session, Judicial Leadership in Transforming Guardianship, outlined our state’s powerful elder justice initiatives over the past 10 years, led by our Chief Justice Debra Todd -- the first female Chief Justice in our Court’s 300-year history -- and an inspirational leader. From our seminal 2014 Report with over 130 recommendations to lay the foundation for improvements in access to justice for older Pennsylvanians, to judicial trainings and detailed bench books for every PA judge on elder abuse and guardianship, creation of an Office of Elder Justice at the Supreme Court level, ambitious legislative initiatives and rule changes, launching the state’s first Elder Justice Resource Center, the award-winning statewide multi-million dollar Guardianship Tracking System, successful advocacy for right to counsel (newly passed as Act 61 and signed by Governor Shapiro months ago), and a 3-year ACL guardianship reform grant with pilot legal services projects, expansive outreach, family and professional focus groups and video educational series for diverse audiences, and continuing cutting-edge guardianship data enhancements, we have accomplished a great deal in Pennsylvania, and we are far from finished. And from NALC we bring back even more aspirational strategies for the future.
My colleague Judge Lois Murphy, who speaks on elder justice around the state and country, described her experience at NALC 2024 as “inspiring and energizing.” She adds: “It is always good to share with others around the country the progress we have made in Pennsylvania on elder justice issues. At the same time, we learned from so many others about excellent reforms and best practices to consider implementing. As a result, we have come home with even more ideas about important work to do to promote justice for older adults.”