March 2005

UM Law alumna, Katherine Pearson, a leading expert on elder law, is a full professor at the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University where she directs the Elder Law Clinic. With funding from Pennsylvania's Interest on Lawyer's Trust Accounts, the Clinic incorporates practicing attorneys to supervise law students who provide representation to the elderly on a range of legal issues such as consumer rights, health insurance, housing, and long term health care. Initiated in 2001 by Professor Pearson, the Clinic now operates year round with students receiving credit for their work. In addition to the Clinic, Professor Pearson teaches a seminar and a workshop on elder law.

"Why did I move into Elder Law? Aside from the demographics of the population, my interest in elder law was precipitated by being asked to help an older man, who spoke only Spanish, and who was defrauded by an English-speaking neighbor who was supposedly 'helping' him with his bank accounts - helping him right into bankruptcy." That case was the tip of an iceberg in terms of seeing a huge need for lawyers who understand the older person's vulnerability to financial exploitation and who will take the time to listen to the older person. Katherine continues, "In the Clinic, we spend a lot of time talking about how best to respond to complicated family dynamics that can impact on representation. In turn, my Clinical work has generated plenty of topics for research and writing. My most recent writing has focused on the lawyer's ethical concerns connected to Medicaid planning."

Katherine graduated with honors from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's in English and journalism. She transferred to UM Law from George Washington University where she was going to school part-time at night while working full-time in the U.S. Senate as an aide to Senator Barry Goldwater. At Miami Law, Katherine was an editor for the Inter-American Law Review. She graduated cum laude in 1979. "I had a great experience at the University of Miami. I count Professor Michael Graham as one of my inspirations for my past life as a successful litigator and my present life as a professor teaching Evidence. I'm still using 'stick person' hearsay examples!" In addition to Elder Law, Katherine teaches Evidence, Advanced Evidence, and Conflict of Law. "I keep in touch regularly with several friends from my days in Miami - especially Mark Bennett, a fellow student who is a top labor law attorney in San Diego."

Prior to joining the faculty at the Dickinson School of Law, Katherine clerked for a federal trial judge in Miami, was a trial attorney in Albuquerque for ten years, and served as the Assistant City Attorney in the City of Albuquerque Legal Department for two years. While working for the city, she served on the clinical faculty at the University of New Mexico School of Law until 1995 when Penn State hired her to develop the elder law curriculum and clinical program at the Dickinson School of Law.