Certificate
The percentage of Americans over 60 has been growing steadily and significantly. The Elder Law Certificate program allows students to focus on the substantive law upon which an elder law practice is based as well as on the unique issues relevant to client counseling and professionalism when dealing with this expanding population.
Elder Law Certificate Program Requirements
Students should notify the associate dean for academic affairs of their intention to satisfy the certificate requirements before the end of their first full academic year.
Required Courses
- Elder Law Externship (each semester is one course)
- Introduction to Elder Law
- Elder Law Seminar
- Estates and Trusts
- Additional core courses (beyond three) will be counted as electives
Non-Law Elective (one of the following):
- SW 833 Social Work and Aging
- COMS 784 Proseminar in Communication and Aging aka PSYCH 785
- HDFL 741 Readings in Gerontology
- PSYCH 691 The Psychology of Aging
- PSYCH 787 Gerontology Proseminar
Law Electives (three of the following):
- Administrative Law
- Disability Law
- Employment Discrimination
- Estate Planning: Practice
- Estate Planning: Principles
- Externship Clinic (with approved placement)
- Healthcare Financing and Regulation
- Health Law and Policy
- Independent Research (on approved Elder Law topic)
- Law and Bioethics
- Public Benefit Law
- Public Policy Clinic (on approved Elder Law topic)
- Public Policy, Policy Analysis, and Disability Law
- Any of the core courses taken in excess of the requirements
Students must complete a minimum of 20 credit hours of approved course work that satisfies the distribution requirements in order to earn the certificate.
Substititions may be authorized by the Elder Law Program director. For further information, contact Professor Sandra McKenzie, scm@ku.edu.