NAELA News August, 1999 - National Academy of Elder Law ...

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NAELA News ● August 1999 Internet Corner Using the Internet Can Make You a Better Elder Law Attorney by David Goldfarb, Esq. The Internet has become an indispensable tool for elder law attorneys. It provides immediate access to up-to-date information—although verifying the accuracy of the information is up to you. It also provides a means of communication with other attorneys and clients. What You Need You of course need a computer, Internet access, an e-mail program, and a Web browser. Today, it is almost impossible to buy a computer that does not have everything you need to get started using the Internet. Since surveys show that most people who buy a computer for the first time identify accessing the Internet as a major reason for their purchase, most computers make it easy to get online. So if you have yet to take the plunge in accessing the Internet, there’s no longer an excuse not to get online! In this article, we’re going to show you what the Internet has to offer the elder law attorney, and how the Internet can make you a better elder law attorney. What You Get The World Wide Web The “content” accessible over the World Wide Web includes government information, law school libraries, case databases, and commercial information sites. Normally you would have to resort to search engines on the Internet to locate the material you want to find. But many legal sites now provide lists of “links.” For example, Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII) has a comprehensive list of many Web resources. The LII collection of state legal materials compiles, state by state, Internet-accessible sources of the constitutions, statutes, judicial opinions, and regulations for the 50 states plus D.C. and the U.S. territories and affiliated jurisdictions. It is at http://www.law. cornell.edu/states/. LII also provides the United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, and a method to search all federal Circuit Courts of Appeal. See http:// www.law.cornell.edu/. American Law Source hosts ALSO! at http://www.l awsource.com/ also/ that provides a comprehensive listing of links to state laws, judicial opinions, forms, sources of commentary and practice aids. Here are just some of the sites on the Web that are useful to elder law attorneys. Information Provided by the Federal Government: ● Health Care Financing Administration Information on Medicaid and Medicare at http:// www.hcfa.gov/ ● HCFA’s State Medicaid Manual for Download in WordPerfect format at http://www.hcfa.gov/ pubforms/stmcaid/mcaidtoc.htm ● Social Security Administration’s Handbook at http://www.ssa.gov/ OP_Home/handbook/ssa-hbk.htm ● The IRS home page with downloadable tax forms and publications at http:// www.irs.ustreas.gov/plain/ State Specific Material: ● Cornell LII State Specific Material at http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/ ● American Law Source ALSO! at http://www.lawsource.com/also/ ● State Search Service of the National Association of State Information Resource Executives (NASIRE) at http://www.nasire.org/ss/ ● The State Court Locator of The Villanova The Center for Information Law and Policy at http:// www.cilp.org/State-Ct/ ● State Web Locator of The Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy at http://www.cilp.org/State- Agency/index.html ● Municipal Codes Online from Seattle Public Library at http:// www.spl.org/govpubs/ municode.html ● State Tax Forms from the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) at http:/ /www.taxadmin.org/fta/ FORMS.html Court Decisions: ● A finder for federal court decisions is at http://www.law.emory.edu/ FEDCTS/ ● The State Court Locator of The Villanova The Center for Information Law and Policy at http:// www.cilp.org/State-Ct/Law schools ● ABA List of Law Schools at http:// www.abanet.org/legaled/ ALPHA.HTML ● USC Law School Locator at http:// www.usc.edu/dept/law-lib/librarys/ locators.html ● The University of Kansas School of Law provides the Kansas Elderlaw Network (KELN) at http:// www.ink.org/public/keln/ Organizations That Provide Elder Law Related Information: ● National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys at http://www.naela.org/ ● National Health Law Program at http://www.healthlaw.org/ ● National Association of Social Security Claims Representatives at http://www.nosscr.org/ (continued on page 13) 12
NAELA News ● August 1999 Internet Corner (continued from page 12) ● ● ● Bet Tzedek Legal Services (California) On-Line Guide to Social Security Programs, Medicaid and Nursing Home Law at http:// comquest1.comquest.com/bettzedek/ Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Information Center at http:// www.nursinghomeabuse.com/ Families USA’s Medicaid Clearing House at http:// www.familiesusa.org/medicaid/ E-Mail You can use e-mail to stay in touch with other elder law attorneys and to communicate with clients. E-mail is an excellent tool for setting up appointments and communicating questions. E- mail is not secure and there may be questions about whether the attorney-client privilege attaches to communications posted on the Internet. Therefore, you should consider carefully before giving legal advice or putting confidential communications in e-mail. There are encryption programs to insure a degree of privacy to e-mail, but it is prudent to be cautious at this stage of Internet development and not use e-mail for confidential communications. If you don’t know someone’s e-mail address you might be able to find it though one of these search engines on the Web: ● WhoWhere? From Lycos at http:/ /www.whowhere.lycos.com/ ● Yahoo People Search at http:// people.yahoo.com/ ● Internet Address Finder at http:// www.iaf.net Listservs Listservs are e-mail communities. By subscribing to a listserv, you can send a communication to all members by just sending one message. You subscribe by sending a special message to an e-mail address. Some listservs are open to anyone; others have restrictions—for example, NAELA’s listserv is open only to members. Once you are subscribed you will receive in your e- mail program all the messages that are sent to the listserv. You will also be given an e-mail address that you can use to post messages to the listserv. There are a few listservs where the owner posts messages and announcements, but you as a subscriber cannot post messages. These are usually used for product information and announcements. Others have strict rules of etiquette about what can be discussed and when. You will be sent any special rules when you first subscribe. Follow the discussion on the listserv for a few days before you send a message; otherwise you can get “flamed” for not following the listserv’s rules of etiquette. Information on Legal Listservs: ● Lyonette Louis-Jaques Law Lists at http://www-user.lib.uchicago.edu/ cgi-bin/law-lists ● Findlaw’s LegalMinds at http:// legalminds.findlaw.com/ Listservs of Interest to Elder Law Attorneys: [I have included either websites where more information about subscribing can be found or instructions on how to subscribe. When following the instructions below for subscribing, do not include the quotes (“ “) in your message.] ● National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys: see http:// www.naela.org/ ● American Bar Association Probate & Trust Law listserv: send this message: “subscribe aba-ptl ” to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com ● Other ABA Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section listservs: see http://www.abanet.org/rppt/ listservs.html ● American Bar Association Tax Section: send this message: “subscribe aba-tax” to listserver@abanet.org ● Americans with Disabilities Act and disability related law listserv: send this message: “subscribe ADA-Law ” to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu ● Elder Law List: send this message: subscribe elderlaw-l ” to listserv@topeka.wuacc.edu ● Estate Planning: send this message: “subscribe estplan-l” to listserv@netcom.com ● Health Law: send this message: “subscribe HealthLaw-L ” to listserv@lawlib.wuacc.edu Most of these lists have hundreds of participants and each of these lists can add 20 or more messages to your daily e- mail! For example, the NAELA listserv for Friday, May 7, 1999, had 75 messages. Almost all lists provide as an alternative a “digest” format. This format provides one daily message containing all of that day’s traffic. When you subscribe, the “welcome message” you receive will usually advise you about switching to the digest format. Newsgroups Newsgroups are discussion groups that use a newsgroup reader usually provided with your e-mail reader or browser. Once you join a newsgroup you can look at a list of topics and messages that have been posted and reply by posting your own message to the discussion. There are not as many newsgroups dealing with elder law related topics as there are listservs. Sites for Finding Newsgroups: ● DejaNews at http:// www.dejanews.com ● Reference.Com at http:// www.Reference.Com ● List of Newsgroups at http:// www.liszt.com ● Tile.Net at http://www.tile.net/news The Internet is a “dynamic” resource. Two warnings: (1) There is no guarantee of the accuracy of information on listservs, newsgroups and on the Web. (2) The content of the World Wide Web is continually changing and being updated. Visit your favorite sites frequently, but make sure the information is up to date! David Goldfarb is a partner in the law firm of Goldfarb & Abrandt in New York, NY. 13
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