Nina Kohn (Syr.) and Ned Spurgeon (McGeorge) on Elder Law teaching and scholarship

Nina A. Kohn
Syracuse University – College of Law

Edward D. Spurgeon
University of the Pacific (UOP) – McGeorge School of Law

Journal of Legal Education, Vol. 59, No. 3, p. 414, 2010

Abstract:     

As the American population ages, the emerging field of elder law standspoised to play an increasingly important role in both legal practiceand legal education. Relatively little, however, is known about howelder law is taught in America’s law schools, or about the nature andimpact of elder law scholarship. This article fills the void byproviding findings from a broad-ranging empirical study of the currentstate of elder law teaching and scholarship. These findings suggestthat elder law is on the threshold of becoming a mainstream part of theAmerican legal academy. They also suggest that, at this critical stage,significant barriers to the field’s development remain. By describingthe current state of the field and the challenges it faces, thisarticle paves the way for future efforts to guide and support thefield’s growth.

The article is available on SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1547267