SLC Updates the Senior Citizens Handbook , Encourages Senior Citizens Law Day Programs by John D. Eure Opening Doors to Legal Services: Welcome to the Senior Lawyers Conference (SLC) issue of Virginia Lawyer magazine. All Virginia lawyers who are in good standing and 55 years of age or older are auto-matically members of the Senior Lawyers Conference. Currently, there are over 21,000 senior lawyers in the SLC. One of the VSB’s most popular publications, the Senior Citizens Handbook is a project of the SLC and is packed with helpful information about legal issues, oppor-tunities, and choices facing seniors today. The Handbook gives seniors, their families, and their caregivers critical knowledge about how different laws may affect them. The book opens a significant door to “access” by educating people about relevant legal issues, empowering them to understand the law, and helping them recognize when they may benefit from professional legal advice. Much has changed since this resource was last up-dated in 2013. Under the editorial direction of SLC Board Member Barbara Anderson, the SLC Board of Governors has undertaken a comprehensive update of the Handbook. This task has directly involved most of the SLC Board, as well as other Virginia lawyers who have graciously given their time and expertise. We aim to publish the updated version in the spring of 2020. Once that task is finished, we will consider how to institutionalize the updating process, and how to make this information available to our Spanish-speaking population. The VSB, through the SLC, provides the Handbook free of charge to thousands of Virginians each year, pri-marily through Senior Citizens’ Law Day programs where the Handbook constitutes the “course material.” These 3-to 4-hour programs, originated a number of years ago by then-SLC Board Member Bill Wilson of Covington, are or-ganized by local bar associations or by motivated individu-al lawyers. Depending on the target audience and available speakers, these programs may cover topics such wills, living trusts, alternative estate planning devices, powers of attorney, advance medical directives, paying for long-term care, Medicaid eligibility, prescription drug plans, choos-ing a nursing home or assisted living facility, reverse mort-gages, and funeral planning. All reports confirm that these programs are extremely well-received by those attending. They are, in short, a real and direct service to the public. Your SLC supports these programs in multiple ways. We publish the Handbook and furnish bound copies in bulk to Senior Law Day program presenters at no charge. The Handbook’s costs, in fact, are the largest item in the SLC’s budget each year. The SLC’s webpage also links to Bill Wilson’s extremely useful blueprint for a Senior Law Day program, so presenters don’t have to reinvent this particular wheel. Newly available on the SLC webpage is a collection of videos of the most recent Senior Law Day program moderated by Bill Wilson at the Dabney Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge. It is worth watching, to see firsthand how a local bar association re-lates to its local communities and serves their needs. Past SLC Board Chair Bruce Robinson, who is the SLC board’s current Law Day chair, stands ready to advise anyone in-terested in presenting a program. Bruce can be contacted at (434) 447-7922, and the SLC’s VSB staff liaison, Sylvia Daniel, can be reached at (804) 775-0559 or at Daniel@ vsb.org. According to the bylaws of the SLC: “The purpose of The SLC shall be to uphold the honor of the profession of law, to apply the knowledge and experience of the profes-sion to the promotion of the public good, to encourage cordial discourse and interaction among the members of the Virginia State Bar, and to pursue its Mission and Goals as follows: The SLC shall serve the particular interests of senior lawyers and promote the welfare of seniors general-ly.” We take our mission seriously and hope that we are of service to you and your senior clients. John D. Eure is chair of the Senior Lawyers Conference Board of Governors. A member of the Roanoke law firm of Johnson, Ayers & Matthews, P.L.C., he practices in the areas of insurance coverage, appellate law, and estate planning and administration. He publishes and speaks frequently on insurance coverage issues, appellate practice, and legal writing. He earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and an M.A. and J.D. from the University of Virginia. www.vsb.org SENIOR LAWYERS CONFERENCE | Vol. 68 | February 2020 | VIRGINIA LAWYER 15