Elder Law Prof Profile: Kenney Hegland (Arizona)

Professor Kenney F. Hegland is the James E. Rogers Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, where he teaches a variety of courses including Elder Law.  His academic and work bio:  Harvard Law School, LL.M. (1974); University of California, Berkeley, LL.B. (1966) Law Review and Coif; Stanford, A.B. (1963).  Professor of Law, University of Arizona College of Law, 1971 – present; Visiting Professor, USD London Program, 1999; Acting Dean, 1988 – 1989, University of Arizona College of Law; Associate Dean, University of Arizona College of Law, , 1986 – 1988; Visiting Professor, Harvard, 1980; Visiting Professor, UCLA, 1976 – 1977.  Full details are available at the Arizona Law website.

About his elder law course, Hegland says, “The best part of my class occurs outside the classroom. Each student must have a field project and most likely it has little to do with elder law. Perhaps it will be delivering meals on wheels, teaching computers at a Senior’s Center, or hanging out with a member of their church, recording their life history.  Students find this most rewarding — I love reading of their endeavnors.”

In addition to authoring an extraordinary list of publications that includes books, Nutshells, and a host of traditional law review articles, Professor Hegland wrote the book “Fifty and Beyond, The Law You and Your Parents Need to Know (Carolina Academic Press 1999)”, co-authored with elder law guru Allan Boguzt. “It was wonderful learning this area and trying to make it understandable to lay folks.”  Another recent publication is his an essay on living wills, “Suggestions, Not Demands,” which he says “takes a different, and I believe more humane, approach.”  This article appeared in the October 2004 issue of the Arizona Bar Journal (October 2004) and is available on SSRN.

When he’s not being a law professor, Prof. Hegland plays tennis, reads novels, and hangs out with his family.