National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
Board of Directors
Executive Committee 2013-2014
Howie has been a member of NAELA since 1997. He is admitted to practice law in Florida and New York, where he maintains two active law practices. He is a NAELA Fellow and CAP member. He serves on the Executive Council of the Elder Law Section of The Florida Bar as the NAELA Liaison and is a member of the Joint Public Policy Task Force of The Florida Bar Elder Law Section and the Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys. He is a past Chair of the Elder Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), where he continues to serve on the Executive Committee. He was named Elder Law Section of The Florida Bar "Member of the Year" in 2010. He has been repeatedly chosen as a Florida Super Lawyer and a Metro New York Super Lawyer and named to Florida Trend magazine's Florida Legal Elite. He received the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award from the New York Chapter of NAELA. He was also recognized for serving as Co-Chair of the NYSBA Elder Law Section Compact Working Group. He has written widely on Elder Law topics and co-authored a chapter of Guardianship Practice in New York State, and a chapter of Estate Planning and Will Drafting in New York, both published by the NYSBA. He is a frequent lecturer for NAELA, The Florida Bar, NYSBA and other organizations.
Gregory has been a member of NAELA since 1989. He is a NAELA Fellow and CAP member and has served on the National Elder Law Foundation’s Board of Certification. He chairs NAELA’s Professionalism and Ethics Committee and has chaired NAELA's Long-Range Planning, Program and Education, Public Policy, and Finance Committees. He serves on NAELA’s Public Policy Steering Committee, Programs and Publications Steering Committee, and Member Value Committee. He founded and chaired the Elder Law committees of the Ohio State and Cincinnati Bar associations, served on the committee that drafted Ohio's model advance directives, and co-authored Anderson's Ohio Elder Law Practice Manual. He is rated AV-Preeminent and has been selected as a Top Rated Lawyer in Health Care. He is an Ohio Super Lawyer and Cincy Leading Lawyer, and has received the NAELA President’s Recognition Award and NAELA’s UnAward.
Gregory S. French, CELA, CAP, Past President
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Gregory S. French, Attorney at Law
1244 Paddock Hills Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45229
P: (513) 641-4692
F: (513) 242-5542
E: gfrenchlaw@aol.com
Howard S. Krooks, CELA, CAP, President
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Elder Law Associates, PA
7000 W. Palmetto Park Rd., Ste. 205
Boca Raton, FL 33433
P: (561) 750-3850
F: (561) 750-4069
Brad has been a member of NAELA since 1999. Mr. Frigon received his Juris Doctor Degree in 1981 from Washburn University and his Master of Laws Degree in Taxation in 1982 from the University of Denver. He is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) by the National Elder Law Foundation and a member of the Council of Advanced Practitioners (CAP). He is also a member of the Colorado Bar Association, the Special Needs Alliance and is a Fellow in the Kansas Bar Association. Mr. Frigon served as Program Chair of the 2008 Advanced Elder Law Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a Past Chair of the Program and Education Committee for NAELA. In addition to his practice, Brad is an Adjunct Professor at Stetson University College of Law, a nationally recognized speaker and author of numerous publications.
Shirley has been a member of NAELA since 1995. She is a NAELA Fellow, a
CAP member and is a member of various other NAELA committees. She is a trustee of the Guardianship Association of New Jersey, Inc. (GANJI), a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s (NJSBA) Continuing Legal Education’s Advisory Committee, the Special Needs Alliance, the American Bar Association’s Litigation and Real Property, Trusts & Estates Sections, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s Program Development Committee, and the Morris County Bar Association’s Estates & Trusts Committee. She is an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law teaching elder law litigation to J.D. and LL.M. candidates. She is a frequent author and lecturer for various professional organizations. She received the NJSBA’s Legislative Service Award in 2003 for her contribution in drafting and promoting revisions to New Jersey’s guardianship statutes and the NJSBA’s Amicus Curiae Award in 2004. She received GANJI’s Recognition Award in 2003 for her contribution in advocating for the civil rights of incapacitated individuals. She received NJICLE’s Distinguished Service Award in 2007 and the Distinguished Service Award from the NJSBA’s Elder & Disability Section in 2009. Ms. Whitenack received the Community Health Law Project’s Ann Klein Advocate Award in 2011 for improving the lives of people with disabilities and was recognized in 2011 by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey in a Joint Resolution for service to those with special needs. She has been recognized as one of New Jersey’s top 50 female attorneys as well as a top Elder Law “Super Lawyer”. In 2012, she was honored by the NJSBA for her long service as a trustee of the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education and received the NJSBA’s Distinguished Legislative Service Award for her contribution to New Jersey’s enactment of the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act.
Shirley Berger Whitenack, Esq., CAP, Vice President
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Schenck, Price, Smith & King, LLP
220 Park Avenue
Florham Park, NJ 07932
Phone: (973) 540-7336
Fax: (973) 540-7300
Email: sbw@spsk.com
Bradley J. Frigon, CELA, CAP, President-Elect
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Law Offices of Bradley J. Frigon
6500 S. Quebec St., Ste. 330
Englewood, CO 80111
P: (720) 200-4025
F: (720) 200-4026
Catherine has been a NAELA member since 1997. She is a partner in the law firm of Kirtland & Seal, LLC in Colorado Springs and is one of only 10 attorneys in Colorado designated a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. She also serves as chair of the NAELA Advocacy/Litigation Section and is past chair of the NAELA Guardianship/Conservatorship Section. She is a member of the American Bar Association’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section where she is a member of the Publications Committee and she is also a member of the Senior Lawyers Division. She is the Public Administrator for the Fourth Judicial District of Colorado. Ms. Seal received her law degree from the University of Colorado Law School and is the first person to be awarded an LLM in Elder Law from Stetson University College of Law. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs. Ms. Seal has written Colorado Elder Law for Thomson West, which is a volume in the Colorado Practice Series. She is a member of the Colorado Bar Association and of the CBA Trust & Estates Section and Elder Law Section and is the past chair of the Elder Law Section.
Hy has been a member of NAELA since 1992. He is a member of the Hampden County Bar Association (President, 1998), Hampden County Estate Planning Council (President, 2009), Massachusetts Bar Association and the NAELA Massachusetts Chapter (Board Member 2008-2009). He was Chair of the 2010 NAELA Fall Institute Committee. He is also a member of several nonprofit boards and planned giving communities and he has received several public service and community awards. Hy is also on the adjunct faculty at Western New England University Law School – LLM Program and BayPath College. He has been voted as a Super Lawyer for several years and was also selected as the Springfield area’s favorite lawyer by the public in a reader’s poll.
Hyman G. Darling, CELA, CAP, Secretary
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Bacon Wilson, PC
33 State St.
Springfield, MA 01103
P: (413) 781-0560
F: (413) 739-7740
E: hdarling@baconwilson.com
Catherine Anne Seal, CELA, Treasurer
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014
Kirtland & Seal, LLC
PO Box 2682
Colorado Springs, CO 80901
P: (719) 448-0734
F: (719) 634-0485
E: cas@kirtlandseal.com
Directors as of June 1, 2013
Mr. Amoruso concentrates his practice on Elder Law, Asset Preservation, Estate Planning, Estate Administration and Guardianship. He is Past Chair of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Elder Law Section and a member of the Executive Committee. He received an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell – the highest possible rating for both legal ability and ethical standards. Mr. Amoruso was chosen as a 2010, 2011 and 2012 New York Metro Super Lawyer for Elder Law. In 2011 and 2012 he was named one of the Top 25 Westchester Super Lawyers among all practice areas. He also served as President of the New York Chapter of NAELA. Mr. Amoruso is the 2010 recipient of the NAELA Outstanding New York Chapter Member Award. Mr. Amoruso is a nationally published author and frequent lecturer for the New York State Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, National Association of Estate Planners and Councils, Stetson Law National Supplemental Needs Trust Conference, WealthCounsel LLC and ElderCounsel LLC, the Westchester Business Journal and Generations on cutting-edge Elder Law and Special Needs topics. Mr. Amoruso hosts the weekly “Elder Care on the Air” radio show on WFAS AM and is a frequent source of quotes and opinions for the local and national press.
Bob has been a member of NAELA since 1993. He is a member of the Ethics and NAELA News Editorial Committees and is past Chair of the Tax Section. He is a member of the Elder Law sections of the State Bars of Michigan and Wisconsin, and a board member of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association (LCPLFA).
Robert C. Anderson, CELA, CAP, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
Elder Law Firm of Anderson Associates, PC
148 W Hewitt Ave.
Marquette, MI 49855
P: (906) 228-6212
F: (906) 228-6219
E: rcanderson@upelderlaw.com
Michael J. Amoruso, Director
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2015
Amoruso & Amoruso, LLP
800 Westchester Ave., Ste. S-320
Rye Brook, NY 10573
P: (914) 253-9255
F: (914) 253-9162
Wendy Cappelletto has been a member of NAELA since 2000. She is currently the chair of the Guardianship/Conservatorship Section. Ms. Cappelletto previously served on the Program and Education Committee and chaired the Membership Committee. She recently was one of the NAELA delegates to the Third National Guardianship Summit in October of 2011. She is the Past President of the Illinois NAELA Chapter. Ms. Cappelletto has guest lectured at DePaul, Loyola, and John Marshall law schools. In addition, she has been a speaker at the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Governor's Conference on Aging. She has also served as a member of the Cook County Suburban Elder Abuse Task Force. Ms. Cappelletto is a 1990 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. She is a supervising Attorney at the Office of the Public Guardian of Cook County. Prior to working at the Public Guardian's Office, she was an attorney with Prairie State Legal Services, Inc., a LSC program in Northern Illinois.
Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek is the principal of Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek & Associates, and the Past Chair of the Elder Law & Disability Rights Section of the State Bar of Michigan. Her practice concentrates in Elder Law, Medicaid, estate planning, estates/trust administration, probate, administrative law, and disability advocacy. Ms. Dudek represents people in securing the support services they need to play, work and live fully in their communities through litigation, trust administration and passionate advocacy. She serves as a board member of The United Cerebral Palsy of Metropolitan Detroit, is an active member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Bonnell Foundation Board of Directors. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys honored Ms. Dudek with the Powley Elder Law Award in fall 2005 and she achieved Fellow Status with the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys in spring 2009. Ms. Dudek was also admitted to The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Council of Advanced Practitioners in 2010. Other honors which have been earned by Ms. Dudek are: The Michigan Super Lawyers list as one of the top lawyers 2011; DBusiness, Detroit’s Premier Business Journal, named Dudek a Top Lawyer for 2012; and Best Lawyers has named Dudek as Michigan Lawyer of the Year for 2012. She was additionally named to the 2012 list of Top Attorneys in Michigan by the New York Times.
Patricia E. K. Dudek, CAP, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek & Associates
30445 Northwestern Highway, Suite 250
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
P: (248) 254-3462
F: (248) 928-9233
E: pdudek@pekdadvocacy.com
Wendy Shparago Cappelletto, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
Office of the Public Guardian
69 W. Washington Street, Ste. 700
Chicago, IL 60602
P: (312) 603-0849
F: (312) 603-9946
Julie has been a member of NAELA since 2003. She is currently the President of the Northern California chapter of NAELA and serves as the Chair of the Healthcare Section of NAELA. She served as a board member of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association (LCPLFA) from 2010-2012. She currently serves as a board member of the Adult Day Services Network of Contra Costa County, California. She is a contributing author to the book entitled How to Plan for Long-Term Care by Allen Hamm, published in 2012. Prior to opening her Elder Law practice, her first career was working as a Critical Care Registered Nurse in several San Francisco Bay Area hospitals.
Roberta K. Flowers is a professor of law at Stetson University College of Law. Within the Elder Law LL.M. program, Professor Flowers teaches Ethics in an Elder Law Practice. She also teaches Evidence, Criminal Procedure, and Professional Responsibility. While at Stetson, she has served as the director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy and as the William Reece Smith Jr. Distinguished Professor in Professionalism. During her time at Stetson, Professor Flowers has received the university-level Excellence in Teaching Award, Most Inspirational Teacher Award from the Student Bar Association, and an award from the Student Bar Association for supporting student life. She also has received the university-level Homer and Dolly Hand Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the Dean’s Award for Extraordinary Service, and has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award four times. In 2005, the Florida Supreme Court awarded Professor Flowers the Faculty Professionalism Award. Professor Flowers has lectured worldwide on the topic of ethics. She won a Telly Award for Excellence in Educational Films for having produced a series of educational videos on the ethical issues faced by prosecuting attorneys. Along with Professor Rebecca Morgan, she created a video series used to train and educate attorneys nationwide on the ethical dilemmas faced by elder law attorneys. The Florida Supreme Court awarded Professor Morgan and Professor Flowers the Florida Supreme Court Professionalism Award for their video productions. Additionally, with Professor Morgan, Professor Flowers designed the nation’s first “elder friendly courtroom,” which serves as a model for courtrooms of the future. With Professor Morgan and Michael Kirtland, Kirtland and Seal, she wrote a book entitled Ethics and an Elder Law Practice, which was published in 2012.
Roberta K. Flowers, Director
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2015
Stetson College of Law
1401 61
stStreet South
Gulfport, FL 33707-3246
P: (727) 562-7863
F:
E: flowers@law.stetson.edu
Julie M. Fiedler, CELA, Director
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2015
Horizon Elder Law & Estate Planning, Inc.
4000 Executive Parkway, Ste. 160
San Ramon, CA 94583
P: (925) 244-1185
F: (925) 369-7123
Amos has been a member of NAELA since 1999. He received an LL.M. (with honors) in Elder Law from Stetson University College of Law, is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a member of the Special Needs Alliance. He is past president of the Centre County Bar Association, past Chair of the PBA Lawyers Assistance Committee, a founding Director (and continues as Director) of the Board of Pennsylvania Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, and formerly a member of the Pennsylvania Judicial Inquiry and Review Board. He has received several pro bono and other community service awards and is Chair of the Centre County Bar Foundation. He is also the Vice Chair of the Centre County Community Foundation. Amos has been rated as an A-v attorney by Martindale-Hubbell for more than 20 years and has been accredited as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in Elder Law every year since that category was established. His firm is counsel to a number of nonprofit organizations and he has received a number of conservation awards. He is a contributing author to the Lexis Nexis treatise Estate and Financial Planning for the Elderly as well as its related forms books.
Ron is a founding member of NAELA and has been a Fellow since 1991. He is a member of the Council of Advanced Practitioners and the Special Needs Alliance, and Editor for Quality Control of the NAELA Journal. With Jason Frank, he co-founded the First Maryland Disability Trust, a pooled special needs trust, and has served on the Board and is counsel to Shared Horizons, Inc., which operates a pooled trust serving D.C. and Maryland. Before starting his elder law practice in 1983 he handled antitrust appeals for the U.S. Department of Justice and has filed briefs on behalf of NAELA and SNA as amici curiae in the U.S. courts of appeal.
Ron M. Landsman, Esq., CAP, Director
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2015
Ron M. Landsman, PA
200-A Monroe St., Ste. 110
Rockville, MD 20850-4424
P: (240) 403-4300
F: (240) 403-4301
E: rml@ronmlandsman.com
H. Amos Goodall Jr., CELA, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
Goodall & Yurchak, P.C.
328 S Atherton St.
State College, PA 16801
P: (814) 237-4100
F: (814) 237-5601
David L. McGuffey is a Certified Elder Law Attorney in private practice with The Elder Law Practice of David L. McGuffey, LLC, in Dalton, Georgia. David limits his practice to Elder Law and Special Needs Law. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. David attended Georgia State University (B.A., 1987; J.D., 1993). He is a member of various Bars and Associations including NAELA, NELF, the State Bar of Georgia, the Tennessee Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, the Chattanooga Bar Association, and the Special Needs Alliance. Prior to limiting his litigation practice, David regularly tried jury and bench trials and represented victims of nursing home neglect. He is a past chair of the American Association for Justice’s nursing home litigation group.
Jennifer has been a member of NAELA since 2003. She is a member of the Elder Law sections of both the Indiana and Michigan state bars, and is a past chairperson of the Indiana Elder Law section and current member of the Board of Directors of NAELA’s Indiana Chapter. She is the current chairperson of NAELA’s Tax Section Steering Committee and co-chair of the 2012 National Aging and Law Institute Planning Committee. A frequent speaker to both professional and lay groups on a wide range of Elder Law issues, Jennifer has a wide-ranging Elder Law practice, both in practice areas and geography, with areas of law ranging from tax to special needs planning and three offices in Greenwood, Indiana, South Bend, Indiana, and Flint, Michigan.
Jennifer VanderVeen, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
Williams Barrett & Wilkowski, LLP
PO Box 405
Greenwood, TN 46142-0405
P: (317) 888-1121
F: (317) 887-4069
E: jvanderveen@wbwlawyers.com
David L. McGuffey, CELA, CAP, Director
June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014
The Elder Law Practice of David L. McGuffey, LLC
105 North Pentz Street
Dalton, GA 30720
P: (706) 428-0888
F: (706) 395-4008
E: david@mcguffey.net
Mike Weeks, CELA, is the President of the Weeks Group, LLC, an estate planning and elder law firm in St. Charles, Missouri. He focuses his practice in the areas of estate planning and elder law and helps clients through the creation of wills, revocable living trusts, power of attorney documents, health care directives, as well as estate tax planning. Additionally, he is also very active in the areas of Medicaid planning and asset protection against the costs of long-term care, as well as non-Medicaid solutions to long-term care crisis situations and prevention of crisis situations. Mike has been a presenter at several continuing education seminars for other lawyers on elder law issues both locally and nationally. Mike is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he received his law degree, as well as an MBA from the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri. Mike is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and the Missouri Bar. With NAELA, he was the inaugural chair of the Young/New Attorneys Section, and was co-chair of the 2012 Annual Meeting. He is a past recipient of the Outstanding Chapter Member award for Missouri from NAELA. Mike is the current President of the Missouri Chapter of NAELA, and is also the Immediate Past President of the St. Charles County Habitat for Humanity affiliate. In addition to his work with Habitat, Mike is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Boone Center International, and the St. Charles Noonday Kiwanis Club.
Michael C. Weeks, CELA, Director
June 1, 2013 – May 31, 2015
The Weeks Group, LLC
2264 Bluestone Drive
Saint Charles, MO 63303
P: (636) 486-9009
F: (636) 486-9010
Staff and Consultants
Peter G. Wacht, CAE Executive Director
1577 Spring Hill Rd., Suite 220 Vienna, VA 22182
P: (703) 942-5711 F: (703) 563-9504
E: pwacht@naela.org
Amelia (Amy) Seaton Administrative Specialist
1577 Spring Hill Road, Suite 220 Vienna, VA 22182
P: (703) 942-5711 F: (703) 563-9504 E: aseaton@naela.org Nancy Sween
Sr. Director, Communications and Publications 1577 Spring Hill Road, Suite 220
Vienna, VA 22182 P: (703) 942-5700 F: (703) 563-9504 E: nsween@naela.org Kirsten Brown Simpson
Sr. Director, Planning and Education 1577 Spring Hill Road, Suite 220 Vienna, VA 22182
P: (703) 942-5711 F: (703) 563-9504
E: kbrownsimpson@naela.org Brian Lindberg
Public Policy Consultant
Consumer Coalition for Quality Healthcare 1612 K St., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006 P: (202) 789-3606 F: (202) 898-2389 E: brian@consumers.org Hugh K. Webster Legal Counsel
Webster, Chamberlin & Bean P: (202) 785-9500
F: (202) 835-0243