New journal to focus on how laws affect older Americans

By Mark Reutter

Older law, an area of law that has expanded rapidly as Americans live 
longer and face difficult health-care and financial questions, will be the
subject of a scholarly journal, the first of its kind, to be published by
the UI College of Law.

The Elder Law Journal, whose inaugural issue will appear Sept. 15, comes 
just as the details of President Bill Clinton's health-care proposal is 
expected to be presented to Washington and the nation.

"Medical and nursing-home care for senior citizens is one of many areas 
where elder law directly affects society," said Ellen Greaves, the 
journal's editor in chief who graduated from the College of Law in May. 
"The graying of America is a demographic phenomenon with enormous social 
and economic consequences."

Americans 65 years and older are not only the fastest growing population 
group - their numbers are expected to increase by 24 percent between now 
and the year 2000 - but "they and their families have legal concerns that
are different from other populations," Greaves said. 

The journal, to be published twice a year, seeks to engage these concerns
directly and serve as a forum for the scholarly exchange of ideas ranging
from Medicaid eligibility for the middle class to the ethical issues that
arise from the right-to-die movement. 

Other articles, aimed primarily at practicing lawyers, will cover such 
nuts-and-bolts items as estate planning, wills, health insurance and 
consumer protection.

In the first issue, Michael Floyd, a professor at Cumberland School of Law
at Samford University, Birmingham, Ala., concludes that continuing-care 
retirement communities, despite instances of abuse and poor business 
practices, generally offer senior citizens a good package of housing and 
nursing care and should not be subject to overzealous government 
regulation.
 
Also in the inaugural issue:

 * Celeste Hammond, a professor at John Marshall Law School, Chicago, 
finds that a "reverse mortgage," a financing method that lets homeowners 
turn home equity into monthly income, holds great promise in helping 
senior citizens stay in their homes and reduce their dependence on public
welfare.

 * Colleen Manning, a recent graduate of the UI College of Law, reports 
that outpatient care of victims of Alzheimer's disease "is a real and 
possible alternative" to costly early institutionalization.

 * Lawrence Frolik, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, traces 
the rise of elder-law scholarship as a reaction in part to the "narrow 
formalism" of traditional legal studies.

The new journal reflects the commitment made by the university to serve 
this sector of society, according to Richard L. Kaplan, a UI law 
professor. While some law schools have seminars on elder law, Kaplan 
developed one of the first formal courses to deal with the topic in 1991.


The impetus for the Elder Law Journal also began in 1991 when students 
were invited to put together proposals for a second UI law journal to 
supplement the venerable UI Law Review. 

A proposal by Greaves and three other students for a scholarly journal on
the elderly was selected by the faculty. 

In recent months the student staff has been "enormously busy" soliciting 
and reviewing articles from law professors and other experts for the debut
issue, third-year law student Linda Hoffman, the managing editor, said.

"We're looking for material that's fresh and substantial," Hoffman said of
articles for the coming issues. "We're also waiting for the health-care 
proposals of the Clinton Administration. They're going to have an enormous
impact on the elderly. New issues will come up and we'll want to write 
about them."