San Antonio Young Lawyers Association, TX Contact: Abigail G. Kampmann, President San Antonio Young Lawyers Association 112 East Pecan Street, Suite 2300, San Antonio, TX 78205 E-mail: kampmann@bpalaw.com Activity Summary: The Positively Aging Seminars & Clinic are designed to educate elderly citizens about pertinent legal issues that affect their well-being. By educating seniors as to what happens when a person's decision-making tools have not been set up in advance regarding health and financial decisions and as to what are the decision-making tools which one should consider setting up in advance with regard to personal care and property decisions, we prepared seniors for our clinic. The clinic met these legal needs and gave the seniors the ability to celebrate their freedom by allowing them to make choices relating to future health and financial needs. Activity Narrative: The Positively Aging Seminars and Clinic are designed to educate elderly citizens about pertinent legal issues that affect their well-being. The project was externally motivated since the need for education in this area has increased due to the national rise in the population age of those people over 65, which is especially significant in San Antonio which is a retirement location for many people. It was also determined that there was a need for a pro bono clinic to prepare simple, but very necessary documents for the elderly and middle-aged. During Law Week, we held three legal seminars around San Antonio which featured the topic "Planned and Unplanned Events." At the seminars, estate attorneys discussed what happens when a person's decision-making tools have not been set up in advance regarding health and financial decisions, and what are the decision-making tools which one should consider setting up in advance with regard to personal care and property decisions. Approximately 90 people from the public attended these events, which were cosponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association. Two of these seminars were open to the public while the other was not open since it was held at a military retirement community. At each of the seminars, we distributed "To Will or Not to Will" pamphlets (23 pages) which was prepared by the Texas Young Lawyers Association and an "Elder Law" book (27 pages) which was produced by the Bexar County Women's Bar Association. We also distributed other informational materials for the elderly. The people in attendance asked many questions and were very pleased with the seminar. We also organized a pro bono clinic for May 8, and 29 people visited with one of our lawyers for the preparation of his or her living will, a power of attorney for health care and a power of attorney for financial matters. At the clinic, computer assistance was provided by Yoast & Company Paralegal Group. The clinic was co-sponsored with Texas Lawyers Care, who provided malpractice insurance for our volunteer lawyers. By educating senior citizens at our seminars, we prepared them for our clinic. The clinic gave the seniors to ability to celebrate their freedom by allowing them to make choices relating to future health and financial needs. We accomplished our two-fold purpose with minimal costs, being $70 for postage and $30 for refreshments. To publicize both events, we mailed a flyer to 220 people who attended our Successful Aging Fair in 1995. We also sent the flyer by fax to nursing and residential homes throughout the community and publicized the event to the media. We received a special segment coverage on the evening news on Channel 4 (NBC) and were listed on 3 of the 4 community calenders of the national television stations. In addition to several feature articles in the San Antonio Express News, which is San Antonio's only daily newspaper. In summary, the San Antonio Young Lawyers Association wanted to aid in the education of senior citizen on legal topics that directly after their well-being. To fulfill this goal, seminars were conducted and pamphlets were distributed so that they could review the materials at their own leisure. We also wanted to provide legal services for them with regard to basic estate planning tools so that they could celebrate their freedom by allowing them to make legal choices which affect their future financial and health needs. Our publicity was so great that we have more people signed up for our pro Bono Estate Clinic than we had appointments for our Pro Bono Legal Clinic in April of 1997. We executed over 115 legal documents for the people for attended the clinic to date. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization