Updates from our Chair Edward J. Schoenbaum on what the Voice of Experience has accomplished, including the addition of dedicated columns on investment, travel, letters to the editor. Voice of Experience continues to maintain our featured column which maintains a variety of topics on many areas of law and practice.
March 1, 2013
From the Top - From A to Z: VOE Does it Again
Edward J. Schoenbaum
Our lead article in this issue focuses on the benefits to seniors conveyed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and on other highlights of the new statute. It was written by two of our active members, Michael Kirtland and Catherine Seal, who have given us an excellent overview of the Act’s many important provisions.
We are also pleased to be able to offer our readers our very substantive regular columns. In our “Investment Strategies” column in this issue, for example, SLD Elder Law Chair Walter Burke interviews Karin Lopez of Arista Wealth Advisors to explain several different claiming strategies for Social Security benefits.
Jack Young provides a fascinating look at international pro bono opportunities for senior lawyers in his interview with Leigh Middleditch of the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI) Board, Jim St. Clair, chair of SLD’s International Issues Committee, and Judge Louraine Arkfeld, SLD and International Law Council member, who has prepared a list of websites that will be of use to senior lawyers desiring to be involved in international programs. We also have Warren Belmar’s “Washington Scene” column on the need for our federal government to stop “the practice of postponing hard financial decisions by kicking the can down what has become a very congested road, or using ‘emergency’ legislation as a vehicle for earmarks for spending that had not undergone the rigors of the normal appropriations process.” Finally, Joseph A. Woods provides his usual erudite and literary take on SLD travel opportunities; in this issue he takes us from “Burgundy to Provence.”
I am sure that all of you will find these articles interesting and that they will assist you in your investments, pro bono activities, travels, and transitions.
We additionally have letters to the editor written in response to Anita Miller’s article on going back to work as a city attorney for Albuquerque, New Mexico, (“It Ain’t Over ’Til It’s Over,” VOE Winter 2013, Vol. 24, No. 4). We hope that each of you who read VOE will also share your experience on your transitions, as we have much to learn from these examples. Please write us.
I want to conclude again by thanking our excellent staff. The SLD is so fortunate to have Judith Legg, Angela Boykin, Patricia Allen, and Betheon Whyte, as well as Lisa Comforty, our excellent staff editor for both Experience and Voice of Experience
Statement of Editorial Purpose:
The Voice of Experience is the newsletter of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division. Our audience is comprised of attorneys aged 55 and older who are practicing or have practiced in any area of the law, as well as elder law practitioners of all ages. Our focus is on helping lawyers and their clients transition through all stages of their professional and personal lives. VOE offers short articles on elder law; practice tips; SLD news, program notes, and calendars; travelogues; and brief essays on issues relating to other topics of interest to SLD members.