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By Letha McDowell, CELA, and Wesley E. Wright, CELA
Full of old-west-themed entertainment, shopping, and museums, Fort Worth was the perfect city to host this year’s Annual Conference.
The historic southwest provided a backdrop to not only learn but have some fun as well. Although nicknamed “Cowtown” for its deep roots in the cattle ranching industry, Fort Worth was more like “NAELA Nation” when more than 250 elder and special needs law attorneys arrived on May 9 to attend NAELA’s 2019 Annual Conference.
The 2019 Annual Conference offered 23 informative presentations preceded by a one-day, sold-out Trusts Workshop. This year’s conference offered education and resources for attendees to advance their practices to the next level. Sessions ranged from “Estate Planning Malpractice and Ethics” to “New VA Regulations and “Future Planning,” to a session on the 2017 Tax Reform Act. After the initial keynote on Memorable Customer Service, the conference provided practitioners opportunities to stay current on a variety of issues impacting elder and special needs law with a diverse selection of CLE-approved sessions and seemingly endless networking opportunities.
Some of the substantive highlights of the week included:
• A sold-out preconference Trusts Workshop. Using real-life client scenarios, attendees worked through several types of trusts including revocable trusts with pour over wills, irrevocable income-only trusts, VA trusts, and special/supplemental needs trusts to name a few. See the seminar review of this workshop on page 15.
• Complimentary workshops on Thursday morning included “Grassroots Advocacy in Your State Chapter” for those attendees considering moving into an advocacy role within their state chapters. Also, a “Presentation Skills Workshop” was offered for those attendees wanting to learn more about adult learning theory and active learning techniques. Participants were able to practice what they learned by presenting in small groups.
• NAELA’s “2019 Case Law Update,” moderated by NAELA past presidents, covered some of the most significant cases decided in the past year on a variety of substantive areas of elder and special needs law.
• “Employment Law for Attorneys” provided an overview of the laws attorneys should follow as employers. Attendees identified which laws apply to their practice and how they can take steps to avoid employee litigation.
• “How Not to Drown After the Tax Reform Act” focused on what attorneys and CPAs experienced after the 2017 Tax Reform Act and the effect on 2018 tax returns.
This year’s conference was full of excellent speakers with a breadth of topics appealing to a wide audience. In addition to great topics and speakers, the networking opportunities and the southern hospitality offered by the Texas NAELA Chapter was unparalleled. Conference attendees were provided a Texas-style “welcome swag bag” upon check-in with Texas-themed goodies hand-filled by very patient Texas NAELA members. Attendees celebrated the week of learning and making new connections on Friday night at the iconic Billy Bob’s honky-tonk. Texas NAELA organized an awesome evening including a delicious BBQ dinner, line dancing lesson, photo opportunities on the “bull,” and, of course, a concert or two.
On many levels, the 2019 Annual Conference was quite a success, but these things are not possible without the dedication and commitment of many volunteers. We sincerely appreciate the hard work of our speakers, planning committee, valued sponsors and exhibitors, the Texas NAELA Chapter, and last but by no means least, the outstanding NAELA staff! See you next year in Seattle.
About the Authors
Letha McDowell, CELA, and Wesley E. Wright, CELA, were the co-chairs of the 2019 Annual Conference held in Ft. Worth, Texas in May.