Mitchell 4L is first U.S. law student to win international elder law prize

Melissa Hunt has received the 2008 Gregory Steele Prize from the Canadian Centre for Elder Law, becoming the first U.S. law student to win the international honor. Hunt joined fellow students Allison Crandall and Alicia Jaworski and Professor Kimberley Dayton, director of the Center for Elder Justice & Policy, to present papers at the Fourth Annual Canadian Conference on Elder Law in Vancouver, BC, Nov. 13 through 15.

William Mitchell’s Center for Elder Justice & Policy had the largest number of presenters from any school at the conference, which is organized annually by the Canadian Centre for Elder Law. The students wrote their papers for Mitchell’s Elder Justice and Policy Keystone course last spring. Mitchell’s Center for Elder Justice & Policy provides a unique opportunity for students to collaborate with advocacy groups to shape elder law and policy in the coming decades, supporting the law school’s rich elder law curriculum, which is one of the most comprehensive in the nation.

“It is a great tribute to all three of our students that their work on behalf of the Center has been recognized as significant enough to present at the leading international conference devoted explicitly to elder law issues,” Dayton said.

Hunt, a clerk at the law firm of Long, Reher & Hanson as well as for the Elder Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association, discussed the rights of grandparent custodians in Minnesota after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Troxel v. Granville and failures of the legislative and court system and legal reforms in her presentation on Grandparent Custody: The Minnesota Experience.

“Melissa’s paper reflects not just tremendous amount of research and reflection, but her deep commitment to exploring the myriad of issues affecting seniors,” Dayton said. “She has been involved in elder justice throughout her law school career and I am certain that she will have an exceptional career in the field after her graduation in January.”

Crandall presented a discussion of Federal Law and Nursing Homes: Applying the Fair Housing Act. For her paper, Crandall interviewed staff from the Minnesota Ombudsman’s Office of Long Term Care and the Office of Housing and Urban Development and a nursing home administrator, researched case law, and reviewed statutes that prohibit discrimination in housing against persons with disabilities.

Jaworksi’s presentation on Emergency Management Planning and the Elderly examines how emergency management plans developed at the national, state, and local levels can and should protect the community’s most vulnerable citizens, analyzes the failures of Minnesota’s plan, and shares best practice models for protecting seniors.

Dayton, an internationally respected authority on elder law, author, and founder of the National Elder Law Network, presented A Feminist Perspective on Elder Law and moderated the panel discussion, of which Crandall’s presentation was a part.

The GREGORY K. STEELE, Q.C. Prize

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law Studies is pleased to offer the First Annual Gregory K. Steele, Q.C. Prize awarded for best paper on an Elder Law Topic by a graduate or undergraduate student in law. Presentation of the award will be made at the conference. The award includes an honorarium of $500, conference registration expenses and meals. Award recipients will be expected to prepare and submit a journal-length manuscript for possible publication in the Canadian Journal of Elder Law. Final texts are due by August 30, 2005. Texts can be sent to the CCELS.

For more information, please see http://www.ccels.ca/.