{"id":31766,"date":"2022-11-11T09:27:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T14:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/?p=31766"},"modified":"2024-03-04T10:36:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:36:55","slug":"aals-elder-law-section-honors-professor-morgan-for-stellar-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2022\/11\/11\/aals-elder-law-section-honors-professor-morgan-for-stellar-career\/","title":{"rendered":"AALS Elder Law Section Honors Professor Morgan for Stellar Career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Professor
Law Professor Rebecca Morgan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

From being an early advocate for giving aging populations distinct legal considerations to sewing masks for nursing home residents at the dawn of the pandemic (when face coverings were rare), Law Professor Rebecca Morgan<\/strong> is an elder law pioneer and a tireless champion for aging populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on Aging and the Law is giving its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award to Morgan. AALS will honor her during its 2023 annual meeting in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To those tasked with reviewing nominations for the award, she was an obvious choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfessor Morgan was selected for the AALS Aging and The Law Section\u2019s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award because she embodies everything that this award stands for,\u201d said Katie Liss<\/strong>, Chair of AALS\u2019 Aging & the Law Section and Executive Director of the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center at DePaul College of Law. \u201cProfessor Morgan has selflessly given and continues to give so much of herself and time to help law students, colleagues, and the community through her mentoring of others, writing, speaking, activism, and care for the aging community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clear choice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To Law Professor Mark Bauer<\/strong>, it was obvious that Morgan should be the award\u2019s inaugural recipient. That\u2019s why he wrote a three-page nomination letter detailing her accomplishments and her transformative impact on elder law, including how critical she was in raising the profile of elder law as an essential doctrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile laws concerning elders exist from the dawn of civilization, Becky is one of the few leading scholars who worked to give Elder Law recognition as a discrete doctrine,\u201d Bauer said. \u201cPlenty of people have studied and practice law that includes elder law, such as Trusts & Estates and Wills, as well as guardianship, custodial care, congregate housing, social benefit programs, and nursing home care.  But dividing the subject meant that no one was looking at elders as a separate group with distinct needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through founding the Center for Excellence in Elder Law, which hosts a J.D. concentration program, launching a distance LL.M. program, leading elder-focused consumer-protection projects, countless legal and non-legal pro bono projects benefitting elders locally and nationally, and many more efforts, she changed that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is challenging to imagine elder law today, academically, in the law, and in regular practice, without Professor Morgan\u2019s enormous and enormously positive contributions,\u201d Bauer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selfless Work, Countless Achievements<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Morgan\u2019s list of accomplishments in the elder-law space is seemingly endless. In addition to founding the Center for Excellence in Elder Law and launching the J.D. and LL.M. programs. Chief among them are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n