I spent April 24 – 28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with over 200 attorneys and staff members of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys (AAEPA) to celebrate the Academy’s 20th anniversary. The American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys is a national organization of attorneys dedicated to estate planning. We meet twice a year; in the spring and again in October. As close as Philadelphia is to Maryland, I had never been there except for driving through to another destination. That weekend also happened to be my husband Les Prosser’s 60th birthday, so I had a lot to celebrate!
During the AAEPA summits, we are educated on cutting edge issues as well as refreshed on the basic foundations of estate planning. Some of the topics studied in Philadelphia were:
- Ethical challenges of representing members of the same family
- The new Federal estate tax portability provision
- Special needs trust drafting
- How to protect assets from lawsuits
We reminisced about the past twenty years as Academy members, and I remembered that my father, R. Ronald Sinclair, was the attorney who first joined the Academy from our office. I was also reminded that the internet was just in its infancy, and that we did not have access to the internet like we do today. Many changes have occurred in these twenty years.
Looking forward we tried to imagine what the practice of law will look like and what technological advances will come in the next twenty years. Without the support of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, I would not be able to bring the high level of service I bring to my clients. Most likely, I would not have the resources to plan for my future as well as the future of my clients. I look forward to the exciting changes these next years will bring and how they will affect me, my clients and the practice of law.
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