Hello ELEPS members!

Here we are with about a month left in the school year, and that means it’s time for elections, and also time for our annual Advanced Directives Day event in which we encourage our fellow students to execute Powers of Attorney for Health Care.

The first order of business is elections. ELEPS has four officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer. If you are interested in serving as an officer for the 2012-2013 schoolyear, please let us know by sending an email to the outgoing President, Jeff Nover, by the end of this week. If there is sufficient interest, we will hold elections via online voting next week.

The second order of business is Advanced Directives Day, which we will hold on Thursday, April 26, 2012!

As most of you know, having a Power of Attorney for Health Care is a very important thing, as it ensures that your wishes for your health care will be followed if you are incapable of communicating those wishes. Every year around this time, we sit in the atrium and encourage our fellow students to pick up the statutory PoA form, provide information about the form and Powers of Attorney for Health Care in general, and if they want to execute them there, we are available as witnesses.

If you’d like to participate in Advanced Directives Day, please let us know when you are available by answering this Doodle Poll. We greatly appreciate any amount of help. Please check Yes for any time you WILL come to the table.

After we are done in the Atrium, we’ll head over to the Memorial Union Rathskeller for an Advanced Directives Day celebration, and to welcome to our newly-elected officers!

Don’t miss this great networking event!

Three ELEPS members can attend the upcoming Madison Estate Council meeting at the Madison Club for a reduced rate of only $5! (MEC currently charges other people $35 per meeting).

The meeting will be on October 17th, starting with cocktails at 5:30 p.m.

Attorney Lew Dymond will present “Estate Planning in an Uncertain Environment.” Mr. Dymond is of counsel with the firm Dymond Reagor Colville LLP in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Mr Dymond is a co-owner and principal of WealthCounsel, a prestigious national organization comprised of attorneys whose practice is devoted primarily to estate planning. He was the initial architect of WeathDocx, the software for the exclusive use by the members of WeathCounsel, and is a frequent instructor on various estate planning topics.

Send us an email by Tuesday, October 11, 2011, if you plan to attend. Remember there are only three spots open for ELEPS members and the first three to reply will fill the spots!

There are two upcoming Wills for Heroes clinics in the area, and they need your help!

Through Wisconsin’s Wills for Heroes program volunteer lawyers prepare wills and other basic estate planning documents at no charge for eligible first responders and their spouses or domestic partners. The program is sponsored by the State Bar of Wisconsin’s pro bono program with the generous support of Foley & Lardner LLP, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, LexisNexis, HotDocs and the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Young Lawyers Division.

Students are encouraged to participate in this event as “witnesses” for the morning, afternoon, or both. If the witness “tickets” are sold out on the registration page, please email attorney Wes Taylor to let him know you are coming. Please let us know if you register for the event as well! Send an email to Julia Zwak, Coordinator of the Pro Bono Program at the Law School.

The event times are:

Saturday, October 8, 2011
9am – 4pm – Firefighters Local 311
Wisconsin Professional Police Association
660 John Nolen Drive, Suite 300, Madison
To register: click here

AND

Saturday, October 22, 2011
9am – 4pm – McFarland Fire Department
McFarland Fire Department
5915 Milwaukee St., McFarland
To register: click here

Hey! It’s a brand new school year.

For 2011-2012, ELEPS plans to hold meetings and other events. Join us! Keep an eye on the SBA emails, check our bulletin board, or contact us via email and we’ll add you to our mailing list.

Also, check this website every once in a while for information.

The Elder Law and Estate Planning Society (ELEPS) is committed to providing a forum for law students interested in elder law and estate planning to engage in a dialogue regarding the needs of individuals, seniors, and families in the community. In pursuit of that commitment, the purposes of the ELEPS are to:

1. Articulate the importance and promote awareness of elder law and estate planning within the University of Wisconsin Law School community;
2. Facilitate the creation of relationships between law students, attorneys practicing elder law, and professional organizations which focus on elder law and estate planning;
3. Instill in law students a greater awareness of and commitment to the estate planning needs of individuals and families in the community;
4. Influence the University of Wisconsin Law School, legal fraternities, and associations to use their expertise and prestige to make the legal community responsive to the estate planning needs of individuals and families and to do any and all things necessary and lawful to accomplishment these goals.