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The Center for Tax Law & Employee Benefits
JD Certificate in Elder Law
Distinguish Your Career in the Emerging Field of Elder Law
The John Marshall Law School's Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits has long been a pioneer in legal education, offering the only Graduate Employee Benefits Programs and one of the oldest Graduate Tax Law Programs in the nation. Applying its model for success at the JD level, the Center is now proud to offer candidates a JD Certificate in Elder Law to specialize and enhance their employability in this relatively new field of law. With seniors living longer, more active lives than ever before, they face a whole new set of legal concerns. Today's retirees comprise one of the wealthiest segments of the U.S. population, and they need particular advice on how to pass along assets to their children or others, future housing and assisted living arrangements, medical care, incapacity or impairment, and other areas specific to elder rights. The certificate program is designed to equip future attorneys with the skills necessary to advise elderly clients regarding estate planning, wills and trusts, conservatorship and guardianship, health care planning, Medicare/Medicaid planning, employee benefits, and elder rights.
Requirements
Degree candidates interested in enhancing their career opportunities with the JD Certificate in Elder Law must complete a minimum of 25 elder law credit hours, including 16 required credits, and must graduate with a cumulative overall GPA of 3.0 and a GPA of 3.25 in elder law coursework.
Center Resources
Proposed Schedule
| Year One |
|---|
| Required JD Courses (29 Credits) |
| Year Two, First Semester |
| Civil Procedure II (3) |
| Constitutional Law II (3) |
| Lawyering Skills III: Herzog Moot Court Competition (1) |
| Evidence (4) |
| Elder Law: Financial Aspects & Planning (2) |
| Elder Law: Preserving Independence & Dignity of the Elderly (2) |
| Year Two, Second Semester |
| Professional Responsibility (3) |
| Trial Advocacy (2) |
| Elder Law: Guardianship Issues in Illinois (2) |
| Elder Law: Mandatory Public Benefits (2) |
| JD Electives (7) |
| Year Three, First Semester |
| Lawyering Skills IV: Drafting for Elder Law (2) |
| Federal Income Tax (3) |
| Elder Law Electives (5) |
| JD Electives (6) |
| Year Three, Second Semester |
| Clinical Participation (2) |
| Elder Law: Externship & Clinical Classroom Component (1) |
| Elder Law Electives (4) |
| JD Electives (9) |
Curriculum
- » Elder Law: Financial Aspects and Planning (JD 169, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Preserving Independence and Dignity of the Elderly (JD 171, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Guardianship Issues in Illinois (JD 175, 2 Credits)
- » Lawyering Skills IV: Drafting - Elder Law (JD 154, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Mandatory Public Benefits (JD 186, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Externship and Clinical Classroom Component (JD 201, 1 Credit)
- » Clinical Participation (2 Credits)
- » Income Taxation (JD 135, 3 Credits)
Please review each course description to determine what prerequisites apply.
- » Elder Law: Professional Ethics, Client Counseling, & Practice (JD 274, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Current Topics (JD 188, 1 Credit) Experimental
- » Elder Law: Social Work & Aging (JD 292, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Psychology & Aging (JD 289, 2 Credits)
- » Elder Law: Bioethics & Aging (JD 187, 2 Credits)
- » Employee Benefits Law (JD 216, 3 Credits)
- » Employment Discrimination (JD 275, 3 Credits)
- » Taxation of Estates & Trusts (JD 232, 3 Credits)
- » Health Law (JD 115, 2 Credits)
- » Survey of Welfare Plan Issues (JD 223, 2 Credits)
- » Estate Planning & Drafting Seminar (JD 231, 3 Credits)
- » Estates & Trusts (JD 131, 3 Credits)
- » Administrative Law (JD 250, 3 Credits)
- » Disability Law (JD 204, 2 Credits)
- » Predatory Lending (JD 288, 3 Credits)
- » Veterans Advocacy (JD 105, 2 Credits)
- » Fair Housing & Fair Lending Law (JD 133, 2 Credits)
