The 2012 SeniorPROM is a grand success! SeniorLAW thanks our sponsors, hosts and attendees and congratulates its honorees. See all the photos HERE! 

Congratulations to our honorees and their organizations (left to right): Mark Segal, Publisher, Philadelphia Gay News; Nicole Jones, General Counsel, Cigna Corporation; James Brogan, Managing Partner, DLA Piper (Philadelphia); Lillian Youman, MSW (with Executive Director Karen C. Buck)

Congratulations to our honorees and their organizations (left to right): Mark Segal, Publisher, Philadelphia Gay News; Nicole Jones, General Counsel, Cigna Corporation; James Brogan, Managing Partner, DLA Piper (Philadelphia); Lillian Youman, MSW Dean Doris Brogan on the left and James Brogan of DLA Piper celebrating with a friend

Honorable Dan Anders with Richard Gruenberger, Esq. and James Brogan, Esq. of DLA Piper

Dean Doris Brogan on the left and James Brogan of DLA Piper celebrating with a friend

Honoree, Nicole Jones, General Counsel of Cigna Corporation, posing with friends

Lillian & Roger Youman posing with The Briers

SeniorLAW Center Managing Attorney Sangeeta Prasad poses with Roger and Lillian Youman and SeniorLAW Center Executive Director, Karen C. Buck, Esq.

Roger and Lillian Youman enjoying the festivities

Roger and Lillian Youman greeting friends

It has been said that if you want to be incrementally better, be competitive, but if you want to be exponentially better, be cooperative.

Kathy E. Ochroch and Karen Buck

2012-03-27 12:00:00 AM

It has been said that if you want to be incrementally better, be competitive, but if you want to be exponentially better, be cooperative. The justice gap is so wide, and the need for pro bono services so large, that we must find ways to be more effective, to collaborate and to be exponentially better.

The statistics are startling. Even with the efforts of stellar legal services organizations and pro bono attorneys, only approximately 20 percent of the civil legal needs of the poor are currently being met. That means only one in five low-income people who experience a legal problem is able to get help from any source. And for certain vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, the need is even more acute.

Pennsylvania and Philadelphia are aging quickly and in great numbers. By the year 2020, one of every four Pennsylvanians will be a senior citizen, 60 or older. Today, Philadelphia is home to the highest percentage of seniors among the 10 largest cities in the nation. And it’s a shocking reality that one in five older Philadelphians lives in poverty, living on less than $10,890 annually for one person. Poverty levels increase with age, with more than one-third of our seniors 85 or older living at less than 150 percent of the poverty level. Thousands of seniors in Philadelphia living on low, fixed incomes need help with legal problems that affect their daily lives, their safety, health, families and survival. Many seniors face special challenges in accessing help, such as mobility problems and lack of transportation, disabilities, health challenges and isolation. Creative, collaborative and accessible responses to serve the needs of our seniors are needed. One excellent response with documented success is the Life Planning Pro Bono Legal Partnership.

The Life Planning Pro Bono Legal Partnership model was developed by SeniorLAW Center to meet a critical need in Philadelphia: the provision of living wills, financial and health care powers of attorney and simple wills to low-income seniors. Through this pro bono program, low-income seniors are able to plan for their future and to express their end-of-life decisions with clarity and dignity, to select trusted individuals to ensure that their limited income and possessions are not exploited or stolen, and to help in the transfer of property to a next generation to help avoid blight and vacancies of property. Senior clients receive legal advice, counseling and the peace of mind of knowing that their wishes have been memorialized. These are documents of critical legal importance to all of us, but especially for vulnerable seniors who are at higher risk of abuse and exploitation and who may need a third-party decision-maker to make key choices about medical interventions, long-term care placement and financial transactions in the near future.

The partnership is a true collaboration with four distinct partners: (1) SeniorLAW Center; (2) a partnering law firm, such as Blank Rome; (3) a community senior venue; and (4) in-house counsel from a corporate legal department. The partnership succeeds by drawing on the strengths and resources of all of these participants.

Founded in 1978, SeniorLAW Center is a nonprofit organization that improves the lives of older Pennsylvanians and protects their rights through legal representation, education and advocacy, now serving over 8,000 seniors in wide-ranging areas of law each year, including seniors in all 67 counties through our Pennsylvania SeniorLAW Helpline. With this project, SeniorLAW Center begins by locating volunteer attorneys who are: (1) interested in serving elders; (2) interested in learning or already have experience in drafting advance planning instruments; and (3) willing and able to serve seniors in their communities. A firm with a longstanding pro bono commitment is ideal, but this is also an excellent project for others with less pro bono experience who are committed to undertaking a focused project and who want to launch a project that is compelling, personal and satisfying.

To develop expertise of volunteers, SeniorLAW Center conducts a training for volunteers on relevant Pennsylvania law, counseling and drafting techniques, pro bono ethics and special considerations in serving senior clients. It is wise to also record the session, so that any attorney who has a conflict with the training date is able to participate in a later clinic date. Once the attorneys have been trained via a live training, or have confirmed that they watched the DVD and reviewed the written training materials, they are ready to attend a clinic session.

SeniorLAW Center identifies one of its many community partners in the aging services network, such as a senior center or senior residence, that is interested in participating in and hosting a Life Planning Partnership event, and has the commitment and capacity to be a vibrant partner and venue. SeniorLAW Center works with the community partner to identify a date, time and space that best meets the needs of the potential clients, noting that morning programs are usually best for seniors. The center educates the venue’s staff members about the services that will be offered and the venue’s staff advertise the clinic and help in scheduling clients and recruiting clients, if needed. Many clients come to clinics from the waiting lists of SeniorLAW Center, which receives more than 100 requests for assistance each week for legal help and more than 700 requests for advance planning services annually.

SeniorLAW Center conducts a pre-clinic community education workshop for seniors, so that those who sign up to participate have a basic understanding of why advance planning is crucial, what the various legal documents are and how they impact their lives, and what decisions need to be made. This includes questions to take to their physicians before they document their end-of-life health care decisions. Thus, clients are more prepared and more comfortable in making major decisions on the day of the pro bono clinic event. The end result is a less stressful, more productive experience for attorneys and clients.

Providing services in the community where low-income clients live is critical. It makes the services truly accessible and exposes volunteers to neighborhoods and struggles that may be unfamiliar to them. The community venue is ideal for seniors who may be frail or disabled. Being in a pro bono client’s community helps the attorneys to understand the hardships faced by the clients and provides a greater perspective of their lives.

The layout of the venue is also essential to the success of the clinic. The site must be large enough to hold multiple “teams” of attorneys (or attorneys and paralegals or law students), who are meeting with their clients, and must be able to accommodate the technology that the attorneys will use to serve the clients. Importantly, the space must provide sufficient privacy to allow attorney-client communications to remain confidential. Working together in a large space builds a team atmosphere where problem-solvers can roam and support the volunteers and clients. Having simple food for both volunteers and clients, educational materials for clients to refer to and take home and welcoming remarks from partner leaders is highly recommended to build comfort and partnership.

The law firm recruits the volunteer attorneys for the clinic and provides all needed technology, including laptops and printers, pre-loaded with templates for all of the documents that will be drafted. As noted above, the attorney volunteers need not be experts in trusts and estates, as SeniorLAW Center provides training, mentoring and supervision.

The clinic event launches with welcoming words and a brief review of the clinic protocols, the law and counseling and drafting techniques. Attorneys are paired together, with new attorneys partnering with experienced participants. Members of SeniorLAW Center staff are on-site to provide oversight and guidance, address unexpected problems and review all documents before they are finalized. SeniorLAW Center staff work closely with volunteers to ensure the excellence of the pro bono services provided. The law firm also provides notaries, as well as administrative support following the clinic (to copy and send the original, plus copies, of the executed documents to each client). Law firms can easily provide this administrative support, whereas for a nonprofit legal services organization, such as SeniorLAW Center, with limited administrative resources, this task would be arduous.

Finally, in-house counsel from corporate legal departments also participate in the clinics, by volunteering themselves and by encouraging their outside counsel law firms to volunteer as well. As more corporate legal departments formalize their pro bono programs and emphasize pro bono participation, more in-house counsel than ever before are searching for pro bono opportunities. The Life Planning Pro Bono Legal Partnership provides an opportunity to do a lot of good with a relatively modest and defined commitment of time, which is a perfect fit for in-house counsel searching for discrete, but meaningful, projects.

This four-way partnership works well because it allows each diverse participant to bring its distinct skills and capacity to the table. And the impact of this partnership is significant. As an example, in the last year, Blank Rome and SeniorLAW Center have held Life Planning Partnership clinics around Pennsylvania in Juniata Park, Germantown, Roxborough, West Philadelphia and Center City. More than 60 Blank Rome attorneys have volunteered for these clinics, with additional in-house counsel volunteers from Harleysville Insurance and Exelon Corporation. Through these joint efforts, more than 140 senior citizens, including many veterans, grandparents and great-grandparents, those in wheelchairs, on walkers and on respirators, from age 60 to 102, now have powerful tools to address decision-making for the rest of their lives and the end of their lives. And because volunteers assisted these seniors with these advance planning needs, the staff of SeniorLAW Center was able to focus their efforts on other critically needed areas of crisis, such as mortgage foreclosure, eviction, domestic violence, grandparent custody and financial exploitation, serving more than 8,000 Pennsylvania seniors each year. This is truly a win-win for all involved and one that could not be accomplished without the collaborative efforts of all partners who come together to serve the needs of “the greatest generations,” those who fought not only our wars but the battle for civil rights, equality and justice, and who created the opportunities we all enjoy today. •

Kathy E. Ochroch is a partner and serves as director of pro bono services at Blank Rome. She can be reached at 215-569-5711 or Ochroch@BlankRome.com.

Karen Buck is the executive director of SeniorLAW Center, a nonprofit organization that protects the rights of older Pennsylvanians through representation, education and advocacy.She can be reached at 215-701-3201 or kbuck@seniorlawcenter.org.

Please note that Photo ID is to be provided free of charge by PennDOT for those needing ID to vote.  Click here to visit the PennDOT website.

All voters will now be asked for Photo ID every time they vote.  While voters will be asked for Photo ID on April 24^th for the April primary election, no one is to be turned away at the April election if they do not have it!  Call SeniorLAW Center for more information and resources so we can help assure that no one is precluded from exercising this most fundamental of rights.  Click here for more information from Committee of Seventy on Voter ID.

If you know of someone who currently does not have one of the accepted forms of ID listed above and will likely have difficulty obtaining an ID, or if you have any questions about the voter ID law or the legal challenge to it, please feel free to contact the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania at 717-238-2258 or voterID@aclupa.org. You can also check out their webpage at www.aclupa.org/voterid. 

Click here for the most frequently asked questions regarding the new voter ID law.

Voting is the most essential right of our democracy.  Know your rights!  If you don’t have Photo ID or know someone who doesn’t, please contact us.  Help us protect your right to vote!

Fraud Alert from our friends at HHS.
Please share this with at risk consumers.

Fraud Alert for People with Diabetes
Criminals who plot to defraud the Government and steal money from the American people have a new target: people with diabetes.
Although the precise method may vary, the scheme generally involves someone pretending to be from the Government, a diabetes association, or even Medicare, calling you. The caller offers “free” diabetic supplies, such as glucose meters, diabetic test strips, or lancets. The caller may also offer other supplies such as heating pads, lift seats, foot orthotics, or joint braces, in exchange for the beneficiaries’ Medicare or financial information, or confirmation of this type of personal information. Additionally, you may receive items in the mail that you did not order.
The call is a scam.
If you receive such a call, OIG recommends the following actions:
1. Protect Your Medicare and Other Personal Information
Do not provide your Medicare number or other personal information. Be suspicious of anyone who offers free items or services and then asks for your Medicare or financial information. These calls are not coming from Medicare, diabetes associations, or other similar organizations. While the caller says the items are “free,” the items are still billed to Medicare. Once your Medicare information is in the hands of a dishonest person or supplier, you are susceptible to further scams. Alert others about this scheme, and remind them not to provide strangers Medicare numbers or other personal information.

2. Report the Call to Law Enforcement
Report the call to the OIG Hotline at 1-800-HHS-TIPS or online at the http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/index.asp. As part of your report, provide the name of the company that called you, the company’s telephone number and address, and a summary of your conversation with the caller.
3. Check Your Medicare Summary Notice and Medicare Bills
Check your Medicare Summary Notice and other medical information to see if you were charged for items you did not order or did not receive. Also, check for items that were billed multiple times, such as glucose meters, diabetes test strips and lancets, and other supplies. Report any irregular activity to your health care provider and the OIG Hotline at 1-800-HHS-TIPS or online at http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud/index.asp.
4. Do Not Accept Items That You Did Not Order
You are under no obligation to accept items that you did not order. Instead, you should refuse the delivery and/or return to the sender. Keep a record of the sender’s name and the date you returned the item(s) to help OIG catch any future illegal billing.
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) fights fraud in Government programs. As part of this effort, the OIG relies upon alert citizens to help them catch those who steal from American taxpayers.
For more information see:
http://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2012/alert20120309.asp

The NLRC e-lert is a publication of the National Legal Resource Center, a collaborative effort developed by the Administration on Aging, US Department of Health and Human Services. The NLRC e-lert is produced by the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging in tandem with it’s NLRC partners, The Center for Elder Rights Advocacy, the Center for Social Gerontology, National Consumer Law Center, and National Senior Citizens Law Center. For more information, contact NLRC e-lert editor David Godfrey at David.Godfrey@americanbar.org.

Please voice your opposition to this bill, which will disenfranchise thousands of seniors, the disabled, minorities, and the poor. Over 18% of older Americans do not currently have photo ID; more than 25% of African Americans.

Call AARP’s toll-free advocacy line (1-800-515-8134) to generate calls to state senators or email your Senator today.

This is an issue of fundamental rights, and one which we have been working on for over a year to protect the rights of seniors – please share with your networks. Protect the right to vote. Thank you!

Governor Corbett plans to bar Pennsylvania seniors and families with modest savings from getting SNAP (food stamps) starting May 1.  This issue is of great concern to seniors.  

Families with as little as $2,000 ($3,250 for seniors and people with disabilities) would no longer qualify for benefits. Under the proposed asset test, tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians would be cut from the program in this tough economy.  In addition to increasing hunger, an asset test would hurt Pennsylvania businesses and the economy, because every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.73 in economic activity.  SeniorLAW Center is a signator to the attached letter objecting to the asset test, joining the Coalition Against Hunger and other partners, because seniors are more likely than others to have modest savings to pay for increasing costs of living, medications, utilities and other necessities, and would be particularly affected by the new requirement. 

You can also join us in this advocacy. 

Call 800-515-8134 this week.  Tell Governor Corbett:

“I urge you to stop the asset test for food stamps. This plan would hurt seniors and Pennsylvania’s economy.” (phone line provided by AARP PA)

Key points about this issue are below.  Thank you for joining us in the fight against hunger and for all you do to protect the rights of older Pennsylvanians.

Key Points About Hunger, Food Stamps and the Proposed Asset Test: 

The asset test punishes people for saving money: Saving money is one of the surest paths from poverty to self-sufficiency. Forcing a family to drain their savings before receiving help is not only cruel, but counterproductive in helping them move off government assistance. Recognizing the devastating effects of an asset test, 36 states and the District of Columbia have no asset test for SNAP.  

An asset test would hurt seniors and people who’ve recently lost their jobs:  Under the planned asset test, tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians could lose their SNAP benefits, particularly seniors living on fixed incomes and the recently unemployed—two groups that are more likely than others to have savings or cars.      

The planned asset test limit ($2,000 for most households/$3,250 for seniors or people with disabilities) is unreasonable. The $2,000 federal asset test has been in place since 1986, when that amount could buy twice as much as it can today. A household with $2,000 in savings would be ill-prepared to pay for medical emergencies or the first and last month’s rent required for an apartment of their own.

An asset test would hurt Pennsylvania businesses and the economy: Pennsylvania could lose tens of millions of dollars each year in federally funded SNAP benefits, which would otherwise be pumped into the state’s economy as food stamps are spent at grocery stores, farmers’ markets and small businesses across the state.  Because every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.73 in economic activity, Pennsylvania stands to lose millions more if the asset test is reinstated.

An asset test would not save Pennsylvania any state taxpayer money: SNAP benefits are fully funded by the federal government, so no state tax dollars would be saved. The costs for administering food stamps are split between the federal government and the state. By adding an asset test, the state’s administrative costs would actually increase to pay for technological upgrades, additional training and staff time.

An asset test would not weed out waste, fraud and abuse in the Department of Public Welfare: Pennsylvania currently has one of the lowest SNAP fraud rates in the nation: less than 1 percent, according to the USDA. The planned asset test would place further strain on already understaffed County Assistance Offices, increasing opportunities for errors in processing applications.   

 INFO ABOUT THE ASSET TEST

REAL STORIES

HOW SNAP SAVES MONEY

ASSET TEST SIGN-ON LETTER

Article is below:

The Dangerous Impact of Proposed Voter ID Laws

By Karen C. Buck

“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

The Pennsylvania House has passed and the Senate is poised to vote on HB 934, amending state election law. Commonly known as the “Voter ID legislation,” requiring all voters to produce photo ID each time they vote, this legislation will have a profound impact on our most fundamental right as Americans, posing significant questions as to who will be allowed to exercise their right to vote — and who will not.

WHAT THE LAW PROVIDES

HB 934 in its current form requires all voters to produce “proof of identification” each time they vote in any election. Proof of ID is currently defined as unexpired photo identification issued by the U.S. government, the commonwealth, an accredited Pennsylvania public or private institution of higher learning, or a Pennsylvania long-term care facility.

Recent amendments to the bill provide narrow exceptions, including driver’s licenses expired within the past year, absentee ballots for uniformed and overseas citizens and alternative ballots for residents of long-term care facilities — but only those assigned to an inaccessible polling place would be relieved of the photo ID requirement.

If you don’t have photo ID, you must file a “provisional ballot,” which will not be counted at all unless it meets a number of requirements, including providing to the county board of elections, within six days, affirmation of identity, indigency and/or an original or copy of your photo ID.

EVERYONE HAS ONE, DON’T THEY?

Proponents contend that HB 934 would not pose a major inconvenience to voters, since most adults carry one form of photo ID or another. But a great many Americans do not have photo ID — approximately 11 percent of all Americans. The Brennan Center for Justice, in “Citizens Without Proof: A Survey of Americans’ Possession of Documentary Proof of Citizenship and Photo Identification” (2006), estimates that 33 million Americans do not have photo ID. Seniors, the disabled, minorities, youth and women are disproportionately represented, including as many as 18 percent of American citizens age 65 and above — more than 6 million seniors — and approximately 25 percent of African-Americans (compared to 8 percent of non-minority Americans).

While it would appear easy to obtain photo ID for those of us who have driver’s licenses or passports, those who do not must overcome a number of financial and other obstacles, particularly arduous for those who are elderly, disabled, low-income or live in rural areas. What seems a simple process for those of us who have the luxury of a car, easy access to public transportation, and are able-bodied and economically secure, is a laborious task for many of our fellow citizens.

Many voters would be unable to produce the documents necessary to obtain a new state ID. In the absence of a current driver’s license or state photo ID, one must produce two proofs of residency (tax records, lease, mortgage, W-2 forms, current weapons permit or utility bills), a Social Security card, and either a current passport or birth certificate with a raised seal (and if your name has been changed, you must provide documentation that connects the names, such as an original marriage certificate, divorce decree or court order). Voter ID requirements affect older voters profoundly, including those who no longer drive and do not need licenses; do not now travel internationally or never did and have no passport; or have difficulty obtaining birth certificates from many decades ago or were never provided birth certificates (for example, Southern-born African-Americans or Native Americans who were not allowed in some white hospitals, and those who were born at home in decades past prior to birth certificate filing requirements). Moreover, although included in the list of acceptable photo ID, it appears that most “care facilities,” including nursing homes, do not issue such ID to their residents.

Many individuals without ID may be uncertain about how to go about obtaining the underlying documentation, and many who live on low, fixed incomes will find the costs associated with these documents unduly burdensome. The costs have been likened by many to a “poll tax,” outlawed over four decades ago by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (a state “violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard.”).

Thousands of voters who currently have no ID and do not drive would also need to find transportation to the DMV in their county to get a new ID card, despite any disabilities, frailties, health, mobility or financial challenges they might have. This will be especially difficult for seniors, disabled and low-income voters and those living in rural counties where they must travel dozens of miles and no public transportation options are available.

Indeed, those who are most likely not to have ID are those who are least able to get it and least likely to be equipped to deal with this added obstacle to the polls. Even with investment in strong educational campaigns, many voters will not know of new requirements when they show up at the polls.

While photo ID may be required for a great many activities, such as jumping on a plane, renting a video or even buying a case of beer, these activities cannot be equated with a fundamental constitutional right guaranteed to every American citizen. Photo ID, showing one’s “papers,” is not required to be an American. At least not yet.

WHY REQUIRE PHOTO ID?

Voter ID restrictions address only voter impersonation fraud at the polls: One individual impersonates another. Is this a pervasive problem? In 2007, New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center released “The Truth About Voter Fraud,” the most extensive analysis of voter fraud claims to date, finding that individual voter fraud targeted by legislative efforts such as voter ID “is exceedingly rare; one is more likely to be struck by lightning.”

The Voter ID legislation is opposed by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, the bipartisan organization representing all county commissioners across the commonwealth, who serve both as election boards under Pennsylvania law and oversee elections. In testimony to the House State Government Committee in March 2011, CCAP found no evidence of voter impersonation fraud, substantiated by a search of case records and anecdotal information from the counties. In their words, it is “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Unlike many other states, current Pennsylvania law already has a number of safeguards in place to protect the integrity of our votes. Pennsylvania law requires voters to show valid ID the first time they vote at a polling place (which may be a photo or nonphoto ID), a voter’s signature at the time of voting and comparison to that in the register, and announcement of the voter’s name so it may be heard by all members of the election board and all watchers present in the polling place. Additionally, Pennsylvania’s poll books are directly cross-checked against Department of Health reported deaths, and the counties do follow up on any where there is a match against a registration record. A person attempting to vote under another’s name in Pennsylvania would have to find a currently registered individual who had voted in the polling place before, pose as that person at the polls by duplicating his or her signature, successfully forge the person’s signature while looking at it upside down, reasonably match the identifying information in the book, and be sure that the individual he or she is impersonating does not show up to vote also — and that no neighbor, colleague or acquaintance of the voter is at the polls at the time.

COSTS

At minimum, to pass constitutional scrutiny, voter ID legislation must also include provisions to provide free state-issued IDs, universal access to acquiring IDs, and a comprehensive public education/outreach campaign to inform voters about new requirements. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has reported that HB 934 will cost at least $11 million to implement in the first year alone. Expenses include statewide public education efforts, training and oversight of poll workers across the commonwealth, provision of photo ID cards, and additional efforts to provide, receive and review provisional ballots, absentee ballots and alternative ballots.

State photo ID laws also remain vulnerable to constitutional attack. In 2008, a divided U.S. Supreme Court in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board upheld Indiana’s photo ID law against a broad attack to its constitutionality, but also cautioned that restrictive voting ID laws are not to burden specific groups of citizens. The court indicated that more compelling evidence of such burdens might have justified striking Indiana’s ID laws and specifically left open the possibility of lawsuits against ID laws that impair particular groups and individual citizens such as older voters, poor voters, the homeless and students. The court also did not eliminate the possibility of constitutional challenge to ID laws that were more burdensome than those at issue in Crawford , which, among other things, included an alternate voting method for elders.

Our work at SeniorLAW Center is protecting the rights of older Pennsylvanians. We serve 8,000-10,000 older Pennsylvanians annually with our many programs and services, including seniors in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties through our statewide legal HelpLine, to save homes, provide protection from abuse, fraud and exploitation, and promote access to safe, healthy lives of independence and dignity. We focus on the rights of those who came before us, who fought not only our wars, but the battle for civil and voting rights. Voting is indeed a “powerful instrument” for fighting injustice and a hallmark of our democracy. Let’s protect the right to vote, of our elders, and of all voters, not place unnecessary obstacles in their path. •

Karen C. Buck is the executive director of SeniorLAW Center, a nonprofit public interest law organization that protects the rights of older Pennsylvanians through legal representation, education and advocacy.

 “Reprinted with permission from the 1/23/2012 issue of The Legal Intelligencer © 2012 ALM Media Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.  All rights reserved.”

 Litigation partners and associates of Pepper Hamilton have formed a pro bono practice group to specialize in this area of law which helps vulnerable seniors stay independent in safe, habitable homes.  Pepper’s new practice group is co-chaired by partners Gay Parks Rainville, Vice Chair of SeniorLAW Center’s Board of Directors, and Laurence Shiekman, both of whom are also handling cases.  

Pepper attorneys attended a legal training in April 2011 on how to handle a home improvement contractor fraud case and eight teams of attorneys volunteered to accept cases.  Now, just months later, the team of Mary Margaret Spence and Anthony Vale have successfully prosecuted a claim for negligent work in the home of a low-income senior and recovered $4800 (in certified funds).   In light of the contractor’s shoddy work and treatment of the senior, the legal team turned down an offer from the contractor to return to the home and instead, tried the claim and won. 

Congratulations, Mary Margaret and Tony, and thank you for the gift of your time and talent on behalf of this senior homeowner.    

A majority of older Philadelphians own their homes.  Seniors over the age of 65 in Philadelphia account for 30% of the total homeowners in the city.  Their housing is aging and creating an increasing demand for repairs. As the need for repairs grows, so does exploitation by repair contractors:  seniors are targeted by unscrupulous home repair contractors as easy prey for those who would propose to perform unneeded home repairs, or enter into contracts to perform work that is needed, and which is never performed, completed or done in shoddy fashion.  Homelessness is an imminent reality for many of our community’s poor elders.  For most of our low-income seniors, their home is their only significant asset.  Addressing their housing legal needs enables them to use their limited income on medicine, food and other necessities, and enables them to age in their own homes and communities, rather than being forced into a care facility.    

The impact of Pepper’s volunteer efforts will be powerful:   enabling elders to maintain their home and their most important rights and needs, avoiding homelessness, loss of independence and institutionalization, and making their homes safe, healthy and dignified places to live.    SeniorLAW Center is proud to partner with Pepper Hamilton.

Although there is pending legislation to require photo ID of all voters in the future, you currently do NOT need to show photo ID to vote.

However, if you’ve never voted before or are voting in a new division, you are considered a new voter according to federal law and must show proof of identification. It does not have to include a photo.

Accepted forms of ID for new voters include a driver’s license or state or federal ID card; U.S. passport or student, employee or armed forces ID; or any of the following provided it displays a current name and address: voter registration card, utility bill, bank statement, paycheck or government check. For a complete list of approved ID, click here. Additionally, if a new voter cannot show ID, does not appear on the voter registry or is challenged by an election official, that voter may vote via provisional ballot.

To find out where your local polling place is on Election Day, click here.
The right to vote is a fundamental one, which we should not take for granted.

Be a part of our democracy. Exercise your right to vote. Make your voice heard!