CLE on Working with Older Clients with Diminished Capacity

The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging issponsoring a live webinar entitled, Screeningand Working with Older Clients with Diminished Capacity: Practical Tools andStrategies, on Thursday, October 24, 2013. Provided below is a description of the event:

The grayingof America means that lawyers in all fields increasingly encounter olderclients and many of these clients can have impairments related to livinglonger, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Clients with varying levels of diminished capacity pose special challenges torepresentation.  For practical and ethical reasons, lawyers areincreasingly faced with making preliminary assessments of clients’ capacity tomake decisions and engage in legal transactions.  Sometimes this requiresknowing how to utilize mental health professionals effectively and knowing howto maximize the functional capacities of clients. 

This programwill provide a practical tool and process for capacity screening by attorneys;clinical background on the nature, variations, and progression of cognitiveimpairments; warning signs of diminished capacity; strategies for maximizingclients’ capacity; and practical guidelines for utilizing mental healthprofessionals effectively.