Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Lower Billable Averages Suggest More Staff Layoffs Ahead

Excerpt from ABA Journal: (click for entire article)

A cut in average billable hours may sound like a good thing for overworked lawyers, but it portends more staff layoffs, according to banking experts.

Average hours per lawyer so far this year are in the low 1,600s, compared to averages of 1,700 to 1,800 hours from 2000 to 2007, according to reports by Citi Private Bank and Wells Fargo Wealth Management. Unless law firms see substantial increases in revenue or productivity, they will likely cut more support staffers, experts from both organizations told the New York Law Journal.

The cuts have already begun. Howrey laid off 32 staffers this month, followed by DLA Piper, which didn’t disclose how many were cut. Stay tuned, says Jeffrey Grossman, national managing director in Wells Fargo's legal specialty group. "You're going to see more cuts in terms of staff,” he told the New York Law Journal.

Law Firm Ordered to Pay to $600K to Lawyer for Mental Health Discrimination

Excerpt from SBM Blog: (click for entire article)

A New York administrative law judge has ordered a New York law firm to pay $600,000 in damages to a former contract partner for discrimination against him based on mental health issues.  James Hazen, who had been with the firm 17 years, suffers from bipolar disorder and was let go by the Manhattan law firm of Hill Betts & Nash for unusual charges  over a five-month period to a firm credit card. The charges included 50 hotel stays, car service, alcohol, adult movies and calls to escort services.  The firm allowed use of its firm credit cards for personal charges as long as the user reimbursed the firm, which it said in this case came to more than $21,100.

Top 10 Veterans Service-Connected Disability Compensation Benefit Cases Decided By The Federal Circuit In 2009 – 2010

Excerpt from Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog: (click for entire article)

A disability compensation benefit is paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to a veteran who (1) has a service-connected disability (injuries or diseases that happened while on active duty, or were made worse by active military service); and, (2) was discharged under other than dishonorable conditions. There are approximately 23.4 million veterans in the United States, more than 3 million of whom receive disability compensation benefits.

A claim for a VA service-connected disability compensation benefit is filed in a VA Regional Office (VARO). There are 58 VAROs throughout the country. Upon receipt of a claim, the VARO examines the claim to determine if the claimant meets the statutory definition of “veteran” and, if so, whether the veteran has a service-connected disability. A veteran whose claim is denied by the VA has 1 year after notification of the decision is mailed to file an appeal of the denial, called a Notice of Disagreement (NOD). (By the way, current law prohibits a veteran from retaining paid legal counsel before a NOD is filed.)

Children with Asperger's could lose diagnostic identity

Excerpt from al.com: (click for entire article)

Children with Asperger's syndrome may soon be known by another name, with the psychiatric community preparing for the possibility that the disorder could be placed under the umbrella of autism.

The American Psychiatric Association earlier this year proposed that the disorder, also known as "high-functioning" autism, lose its separate listing in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The fifth edition of the manual is slated to be released in May 2013.

"(The APA) feels that the better thing is to recognize that there's a range of autism," said Dr. Beverly Mulvihill, co-director of the Alabama Autism Surveillance Project at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is part of the Autism and Development Disabilities Network (ADDM), which monitors the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities.

Florida Woman Dies After Medicaid Program Outsourced To Private Insurers Denies Her Liver Transplant

Excerpt from Think Progress: (click for entire article)

One of the most destructive practices of private health insurance companies is the practice of denying care to customers for frivolous reasons. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services started including denial rates on its information section about health insurance companies on HealthCare.gov, in an effort to inform the public about this practice by the industry.

It was this practice of frivolous denials that ended up costing Jacksonville, Florida woman Alisa Wilson her life. For months, Wilson, her family, and the surrounding community had been pleading with her HMO to approve coverage for a liver transplant. Although Wilson was enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, she was not guaranteed care because she was “forced to join a private plan as part of a Gov. Jeb Bush-era experimental overhaul of the program,” meaning she had to deal with a private, for-profit insurance company to get her care, not a government agency accountable to the public.

Wild Women With Disabilities Speak Out

For this wonderful video, please visit YouTube.

Elder Law: IRAs: What's your exit strategy?

Excerpt from Post-Gazette.com: (click for entire article)

In our column last month, we discussed the structure and advantages of using an IRA as an investment vehicle for favorable tax treatment in the planning for Mr. and Mrs. Adams. However, the changing social and economic climate causes us to rethink traditional distribution strategies. While there are various options, we will examine two planning ideas for handling the distribution of an IRA. Both options utilize a trust and are geared towards tax savings as well as protection of the underlying funds.

Historically, clients who had concerns over the protection of their assets after death would utilize a trust to hold such assets for the benefit of their estate beneficiaries. However, it was difficult to fund trusts with IRAs because of the tax-sensitive nature of these accounts. Over the past few years, the Internal Revenue Service has adopted new rules and positions on this arrangement to allow people to continue tax beneficial growth of an IRA left to a beneficiary with the protection of a trust. These types of trusts can be used in addressing a variety of situations.

The Reality of Roommates for Senior Women

Excerpt from Good Morning America: (click for entire article)

Rose Nylund, Blanche Devereaux, Dorothy Zbornak, and Sophia Petrillo are characters from "The Golden Girls," a popular late-80s television show about four elderly women sharing a house in Miami. Life doesn't often mimic the fictional story of the four wise-cracking ladies who exchanged quips over men and life, resolving issues over cheesecake.

"It's a lot different in real life," says 88-year-old Alice Fecas.

The New Old Age: Ask An Elder Law Attorney

Excerpt from GreeneLiberty.org: (click for entire article)

Medicaid and the Primary Residence Also, my sister currently lives in the house. Is she allowed to continue living there until the house sells? ” LynnA.In most states, a house that is a person’s primary residence is exempt for purposes of Medicaid eligibility – even if the recipient then moves to a nursing home. (Remember, Medicaid is a federal-state program, so its rules vary Craig ReavesBut there are two other conditions for exemption. The net value of the house can’t exceed $500,000. (States have an option to increase that to $750,000, but only a few have done so.) And the owner needs to sign a form stating her intent to return to the house, even if that seems an unlikely prospect and she remains in a nursing home.In addition, any real estate, including the primary residence, is exempt if you are legitimately trying to sell it and no one will buy it.Even if the house is exempt, it may not make much sense to try to hold on to it.

End-of-life uncertainty

Excerpt from Los Angeles Times: (click for entire article)

Americans have a near obsessive interest in death and dying. Today's most popular television series is about violent crime investigators. The biggest movie of the year is likely to be " Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1." The bestseller list is packed with crime novels. And the latest hit video game revolves around Cold War assassins.

And yet, Americans also are notoriously reluctant to confront the realities of death itself. In particular, how is it that so few people have taken steps to ensure that their wishes will be respected if they're too sick or injured to speak for themselves?