2018 Annual Exploitation Conference
The Annual Exploitation Conference will be held October 24-26, 2018, in Destin Beach, Florida at The Henderson Beach Resort & Spa.
The conference will dive deep into topics of estate planning, probate, guardianship, and elder law by attorneys who confront the epidemic of elder exploitation and elder maltreatment on a daily basis. The program will address crucial issues such as national trends in elder law, fiduciary representation and responsibility, and office support procedures for busy law firms. Attendees receive robust materials to work on during the presentations and to take back to their practices for daily use. Florida and Montana continuing legal education (CLE) credit are available for all lectures. CLE credit may be available in other states upon submission to the accrediting authority or State Bar. Florida professional guardian continuing education credits are also available.
Day 1 – Practice Development
By: Audrey Ehrhardt, Esquire, CBC (CLICK FOR BIO)
Day One is an in-person event only. Day One of the Annual Exploitation Conference is a live practice development and office management training session for Conference attendees. Day One is designed to position practitioners as the experts in their communities in elder law and to help develop essential law practice procedures in this practice area. This day also focuses on strategies to client management, efficient billing, and reaching your practice goals. It’s a great way to create a national network of colleagues to help with interstate issues and referrals.
1. How to Design Your Medicaid Office
By: Audrey Ehrhardt, Esquire, CBC
Participants will learn:
- How to set up your physical office
- Understanding potential ADA needs for your practice and how to ethically implement
- Determining the staff that you need to support your practice and meet clients’ needs
- How to find, hire, and ethically train the elder law staff you need
- Identifying how to add more office locations
2. How to Design, Run, and Manage the First Elder Law Client Appointment
Participants will learn:
- Designing your first appointment process
- Identifying the information you need to gather
- Employee training for the screening process
- Evaluating calendar software for the small law firm
3. How to Provide the Elder Law Training Your Employees Need
Participants will learn:
- Training for your employees on elder law specific issues and ethical issues
- Balancing confidentiality, ethics, and needed support from third parties
- Sensitivity and age-related training
- Law office management scripts for different scenarios
4. How to Put It All Together: Pricing, Engagement Agreements and Client Management
Participants will learn:
- Determining the fee you need to in your practice
- Understanding the ethical considerations that factor into your fee
- Identifying the ethical and cyber considerations you need in your practice
- Creating an elder law process for client management
5. How to File Application for Public Benefits and Work with Program Representatives
Participants will learn:
- Effectively building the Medicaid Application
- Balancing interactions with the VA and ethical dilemmas
- Managing client interactions pre-filing
- Tips on ethical client management throughout the application process
- Balancing cybersecurity risks of filing online and addressing client concerns
6. How to Sustain and Manage a Thriving Medicaid Practice
Participants will learn:
- Training for attorneys and team members on prevalent elder law issues
- Managing employees to operate the practice effectively
- Managing ethical concerns in managing the law firm
- Office management tools that can ensure consistent, ethical communication practices
7. How to Find and Market to Your Ideal Elder Law Client
Participants will learn:
- Determining the fee you need to in your practice
- Understanding the ethical considerations that factor into your fee
- Identifying the ethical and cyber considerations you need in your practice
- Creating an elder law process for client management
Day 2 – Elder Exploitation
8:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Registration (Coffee and Juice provided)
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Opening Remarks & Welcome
9:00 – 9:50 a.m.
National Exploitation Update | Presented
Maltreatment of the elderly is a growing problem for an aging nation. This session is a review of cases, law changes, and current national trends in protecting elders and people with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and how lawyers can protect their clients from maltreatment.
Participants will be able to:
- Recognize top national cases and statutory changes on exploitation and similar cases against elders and people with disabilities;
- Identify ways in which abuse, exploitation, and neglect relates to law practices;
- Recognize certain warning signs in their practices that may indicate abuse, neglect, or exploitation;
- Identify ethical issues that arise when an attorney is involved in cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation; and
- Utilize provided practice tools in their firms including case law, research resources, and reading materials
9:50 – 10:40 a.m.
Elder Exploitation Injunctions: The Newest Tool in Our Toolbox | Presented
Thanks to the Elder Law Section of the Florida Bar, Florida lawyers have a new way to protect the assets of elders from exploitation. Effective on July 1, 2018, vulnerable adults and certain legal representatives of those adults can request an ex parte order freezing the vulnerable adult’s assets and enjoining contact between victims and exploiters. This presentation will explore how these injunctions can be made A PERMANENT possible solution without filing a lawsuit!
Participants will be able to:
- Utilize the new law authorizing injunctions for the protection of vulnerable adults against exploitation.
- Identify situations in which these cutting edge, quick and effective exploitation injunctions can be used to protect elders from exploitation.
- Identify how these injunctions can work with other protective proceedings such as guardianship and adult protective services.
- Identify new provisions that need to add be added to powers of attorneys to access these injunctions later.
- Identify ethical issues lawyers face in assisting clients or legal representatives in obtaining these injunctions.
10:40 – 11:20 a.m.
Break for Brunch—Mingle and meet then get your brunch to eat during our next presentation
11:20 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
VA Changes, Political Winds, & Medicaid: What Will Attorneys Face this Coming Year with Elderly Clients | Presented
Major changes will take effect with regard to veterans benefits. There are proposals in many states, including Florida, to change Medicaid. The Social Security Administration has issued new POMS. There may or may not
Participants will be able to:
- Identify various changes to law and policy in the past year and near future that will impact the lives of elders and vulnerable adults;
- Identify how these changes will impact their practices;
- Utilize the resources provided in this section to make changes to their procedures to adjust to the changes or pending changes;
- Discuss with clients how potential changes will impact their estate and public
benefit planning; and - Identify the ethical issues created by the changes to veterans benefits, Medicaid and other public benefits.
12:10 – 1:00 p.m.
Life Care Planning: Another Unique Way to Help Prevent Exploitation | Presented
Life Care Planning, a holistic, elder-centered approach to the practice of law, can help families respond to the challenges caused by chronic illness or disability of an elderly loved one. But it can also help protect elders from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. This presentation will explore the life care planning law practices, its benefits and how it can help protect vulnerable adults.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify what life care planning is and is not;
- Identify how life care planning law practices differ from traditional law practices;
- Identify the processes and procedures in a life care planning law practice that can help protect vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect
and exploitation; and - Identify the ethical issues confronted in a life care planning law practices.
1:00 – 1:20 p.m.
Break – Snacks and tea or coffee available
Meet, mingle and see if the weather will be good for beach activities after the program
1:20 – 2:10 pm
Aging, Technology, & Exploitation: The Promise & Limits of Technology | Presented
Technology permeates every aspect of modern life. It assists with communication, helps monitor health care, tracks our finances, provides social support, and has even begun to drive our cars. Technology enhance life and aid in successful aging. However, that same technology can be used to harm vulnerable adults. This presentation will explore the benefits and burdens of technology when working with an aging population.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify trends in the utilization of technology within the aging population;
- Identify way in which technology benefits and improves the lives of elders;
- Identify the limits of technology and its benefits within the aging population; and
- Identify the flaws, bugs, and failures of technology that can harm vulnerable elders.
2:10 – 3:00 p.m.
Sweepstakes, Microsoft Service Calls, and Gramma Scams: Common Schemes Targeting Elders | Presented
The Federal Trade Commission, the FBI, the attorney generals of every state all keep lists of scams targeting elders (and other vulnerable consumers). Attorneys who work with vulnerable adults must be able to identify how their clients can be targeted and exploited by these various scams. This presentation will explore some of the most common scams targeting elders and ways to help clients avoid becoming victims.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify common schemes and scams that target elders;
- Identify resources to help identify and track schemes and scams targeting elders;
- Identify ways to assist clients in protecting themselves or their families from the most common schemes and scams targeting elders;
- Identify how and when to report scams and schemes that have targeted elders; and
- Utilize the resources identified in this presentation to educate clients on common scams.
Day 3 – Elder Exploitation
8:00 – 8:30 a.m.
Coffee and Juice
8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Opening Remarks & Welcome
9:00 – 9:50 a.m.
When Exploitation & Guardianship Crosses State Lines | Presented
Exploitation and guardianship cases often involve parties or actions in two or more states. What happens when an exploiter takes a victim across states lines to avoid jurisdiction? How do you recover against an exploiter who lives in a different state? Which states have guardianship jurisdiction over an adult who spends half the year in two different states? This presentation will address the complex issues of exploitation and guardianship cases that span more than one state.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify the jurisdictional issues of multi-state cases;
- Identify the issues with discovery in multi-state cases;
- Identify the issues in seeking recovery of assets in multi-state cases;
- Recognize issues in cases that may require resolution in other states;
- Identify ethical issues that arise in multi-state cases.
9:50 – 10:40 a.m.
When a Professional Guardian Goes Wrong: Discipline & Sanctions for Professional Guardians in Florida | Presented By: Amelia Milton (CLICK FOR BIO) & Mike McKeon (CLICK FOR BIO) of the Office of Public and Professional Guardian
Professional guardians are often appointed in cases where incapacitated adults with money who have no friends or family who can assist them. Often the incapacitated adults have been abused, neglected, or exploited and the professional guardian is a protection against further harm. But, what happens when the professional guardian is the one abusing, neglecting, or exploiting a ward? This presentation explores the process for disciplining a professional guardian who has done wrong.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify the statutes and rules that govern the standards of practice professional guardians must follow and the Office of Public and Professional Guardian can enforce;
- Identify the specific standards and practices that govern the protection of wards from abuse, neglect, and exploitation by a professional guardian;
- Identify the steps in filing a complaint against a professional guardian who may have violated his/her standard of practice;
- Identify the possible sanctions that the Office of Public and Professional Guardian can institute against a professional guardian for violating the rules governing their practices; and
- Distinguish the discipline process for professional guardians from the sanctions available through the guardianship court to stop guardians from harming wards.
10:40 – 11:20 a.m.
Break for Brunch—Mingle and meet then get your brunch to eat during our next presentation
11:20 – 12: 10 p.m.
State Protection of Vulnerable Adults: Adult Protective Services | Presented
Adult protective services (APS) investigates reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders and people with disabilities and can initiate protective proceedings. Understanding its function and the process is essential for attorneys who work with elders and people with disabilities. This session will help participants identify the purpose APS, who it protects and how, and the function of an APS proceeding.
Participants will be able to:
- Differentiate between the purposes of state adult protective services laws and civil laws that protect vulnerable adults
- Identify who adult protective services
protects and the impairments or vulnerabilities of the protected population; - Explain the basic process of an adult protective service proceeding and the likely outcomes;
- Identify mandatory reporters and explain how to make reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation; and
- Identify the ethical issues that can arise for attorneys involved in these proceedings.
12:10 – 1:00 p.m.
Are You Going to Get Sued or Just a Bar Complaint – The Connection Between Ethics & Liability | Presented
Protecting and advocating for the elderly and people with disabilities means more than understanding exploitation and abuse by third parties. During this session, participants will learn about an attorneys’ ethical obligations to vulnerable clients and the causes of action that can be the result of ethical lapses.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify their ethical obligations to the vulnerable adult clients they represent;
- Distinguish between ethical obligations and legal obligations to clients;
- Identify causes of action against an attorney who may have engaged in conduct that led to a vulnerable client being abused, neglected or exploited.
- Utilized the resources provided in this section to review their current practices and procedures to enhance protections for vulnerable adults.
1:00 – 1:20 p.m.
Break – Snacks and tea or coffee available
Meet, mingle and see if the weather will be good for beach activities after the program
1:20 – 2:10 p.m.
How to Use An Expert Witness | Presented
Cases involving abuse, neglect, and exploitation often involve medical records, unreliable witnesses, and complex questions of capacity and legal duties to vulnerable adults. This issues often require the use of an expert witness. This presentation will discuss the uses of expert witnesses and the rules for discovery of their opinions.
Participants will be able to:
- Distinguish between a fact witness or lay witness and an expert witness;
- How to find good expert witnesses;
- Identify the various ways an expert witness can be used in abuse, neglect, and exploitation cases;
- Distinguish between a consulting expert and a testifying expert; and
- Identify the ethical considerations when engaging an expert witness.
2:10 – 3:00 p.m.
Representing the Bad Fiduciary—The Lawyer’s Ethical Obligations | Panel Discussion with Q & A with Audrey Erhardt, Twyla Sketchley & conference presenters.
Fiduciaries–trustees, guardians, agents, and surrogates–all owe to the principal they serve. Sometimes, those fiduciaries take advantage of their positions or otherwise harm those they are supposed to protect. When a lawyer is representing a fiduciary who breaches his/her duty, what is the lawyer’s obligation to the client? The principal? The Ward? This presentation will engage the audience in a discussion of examples of bad fiduciary behavior and the obligations of the lawyers in each example.
Participants will be able to:
- Identify a lawyer’s ethical issues when he/she discovers a fiduciary he/she represents has breached its fiduciary duty;
- Identify the lawyer’s obligation to third parties when a fiduciary he/she represents breaches its fiduciary duty;
- Identify resources available to the lawyer to assist in resolving the ethical issues; and
- Utilize the identified resources to resolve the ethical issues that arise when a lawyer represents a fiduciary that breaches its duty.