Navigating Ethical Issues in Elder Law: Client Identification, Confidentiality, Capacity, Conflicts, and More

Description

Elder law is a specialized area of legal practice, and elder law attorneys frequently face ethical issues that are specific to the aging population they serve. Practitioners must carefully navigate these ethical challenges to ensure full protection of the rights, dignity, and well-being of their clients.

Unlike many other areas of law, elder law often involves multiple stakeholders, including the elderly client, family members, and caregivers. These parties may have conflicting interests with respect to decisions impacting the client. As there is often more than one person involved on the "client" side of attorney-client relationships, it is important to identify and document who the client is.

Another common ethical concern is the issue of diminished capacity of the client. Where it exists, diminished capacity can impact a client's ability to make reasoned decisions about their legal, financial, and healthcare matters. Attorneys must carefully assess a client's capacity and avoid assuming incapacity based on age or occasional memory lapses.

Among the other critical ethical issues elder attorneys face are confidentiality, scope of representation, guardianship and conservatorship issues, and communicating with unrepresented parties. And, as it does when used in other practice areas, the use of AI tools in elder law also raises ethical and privacy concerns.

Listen as our panel discusses the ethical considerations that frequently arise in elder law practice and explains how attorneys can effectively navigate ethical challenges and act in the best interests of their clients.