Displaying items by tag: Fellows

Rebecca Vallas, a former fellow in law and aging, is a national expert on SSI and economic justice. She was mentioned and quoted in a July 30, 2021, New York Times article on possible congressional changes to SSI: Rebecca Vallas, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and a leader of #DemolishDisabledPoverty, called the current effort “the logical next step of what we saw in 2017 and 2018, when the disability community and the senior community came together to fight in lock step to protect the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.”

Will Breland, a 2020-2021 Borchard Fellow in Law & Aging, has published an article in the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Acres of Distrust: Heirs Property, the Law's Role in Sowing Suspicion Among Americans and How Lawyers Can Help Curb Black Land Loss examines the tremendous loss of Black lands that occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century and into the current decade and argues that many such losses can be attributed to the prevalence of “heirs property,” or property defined by the existence of a tenancy-in-common form of ownership as a result of intestacy, and speculators, developers, and legal professionals’ exploitation of such landowners’ tenuous form of ownership through partition sales. The article argues that such exploitation has caused many, particularly in the African American community, to view legal professionals with distrust, particularly regarding property matters. To illustrate the connection between Black landownership and its past interactions with the legal system, the article outlines the social and legal history of Black landownership. While scholars debate the impact of mistrust in the legal system and its practitioners on estate planning, the article contends that past negative interactions with the legal system inhibit the utilization of estate planning services. As a result, this perpetuates a cycle of inheritance through intestacy on a massive scale. Finally, the article provides proposed solutions for legal professionals to consider when dealing with such legal issues. 

The Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Board of Directors are delighted to announce the 2021-2022 Borchard Fellows in Law & Aging. They are Allie Kirchhoff Corrie, Aditi Shah, and Valencia Sherman-Greenup who will begin their fellowships in August and September. Congratulations!

Allie Kirchhoff Corrie will focus on "clutter" housing cases at Mobilization for Justice in New York City. Aditi Shah will work with the ACLU National Prison Project to assist older immigrants in detention facilities. Valencia Sherman-Greenup will work with Justice in Aging in their Washington, D.C. office on increasing access to Medicaid Home and Community Based Services with a focus on improving racial equity. 

Please join me in welcoming these three wonderful new advocates for older adults to our ranks as Borchard Fellows. Our current fellows--Will Breland, Annie Mullican, and Chris Phillips--are doing amazing work. They will continue as fellows through August.

2021-2022

2021-2022

2021-2022

Former Borchard Fellow Christine Sung was featured in the Spring 2021 newsletter published by Legal Assistance for Seniors. 

Legal Assistance for Seniors provides legal services to older adults in the Bay Area in California. Christine Sung is a staff attorney with the agency where she served as as 2017-2018 Fellow and is an extraordinary advocate for the rights of older adults. 

Two two-years fellowships in law and aging are available for 2023-2025. The online application is available between March 1, 2023 and April 3,2023. Interested applicants should submit the required online application by April 3, 2023. See our web page on the fellowships and our online application. 

Former fellow Julie Gilgoff published recently an article on housing alternatives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic-Related Vacant Property Initiatives appeared in the ABA publication, the Journal of Affordable Housing, Volume 29, Number 2. 

The Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation Board of Directors are delighted to announce the 2020-2021 Borchard Fellows in Law & Aging. They are Will Breland, Annie Mullican, and Chris Phillips who will begin their fellowships in September. Congratulations!

Will Breland will work with Legal Services Alabama on heirship property issues in Alabama's historic Black Belt. Annie Mullican will be in Richmond, Virginia, working with the Medical-Legal Partnership of Virginia Commonwealth University and will focus on helping older clients avoid guardianship through advance planning. Chris Phillips will be with the Center for Elder Law & Justice in Buffalo, New York, where he will develop a partnership with Western New York Pride Center's Silver Pride Project to provide legal services to the aging LGBQT+ community.