I have nothing against ElderCounsel, but membership in elder counsel or lack thereof doesn't have any bearing on an elder law attorney's competence. Elder Counsel is a for profit organization that provides systems to attorneys who practice elder law. I would expect any lawyer serious about elder law to be in the state bar's elder law section and/or National Academy of Elder Law attorneys, which are not for profit.

As lawyers often do, I respectfully disagree. Here are my arguments: 1. ElderCounsel is expensive to belong to, so that means its members are pretty motivated and more likely to be active and up to date. 2. ElderCounsel provides a ton of on-going education, supporting materials, and ever-updating drafting software to help its members stay as current as possible. I'm not a member of NAELA, but every not-for-profit bar assn I've ever belonged to was disgracefully unhelpful in building my practice or providing significant education. 3. I'm not an ElderCounsel lawyer, but I am a member of its sister organization WealthCounsel (estate planning) so I know the quality of services the organization provides. That being said, ElderCounsel is but one way of staying on top of one's practice, and I certainly do not intend to deride any non-ElderCounsel lawyers because there are fantastic lawyers both in and out of ElderCounsel.

The fact that Elder Counsel is expensive causes many top elder law attorneys who don't need the drafting software not to join. Same is true of Wealth Counsel. Many lawyers who are fellows of ACTEC and/or lecture for Heckerling tend not to be Wealth Counsel members and have their own forms. In fact,for 20 years I've been running NJ's oldest annual elder law continuing legal education program and I don't think any of the speakers have belonged to Elder Counsel. As I said, nothing against Wealth Counsel or Elder Counsel, but since they are expensive for profit organizations, it shouldn't be surprising if many top trust and estate and elder law lawyers aren't members of either organization. In contrast, leading elder law firms do tend to have at least some of their lawyers belong to NAELA and perhaps become CELAs [Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law exam after satisfying various practice and education requirements and taking a full day exam in elder law, special needs, and estate planning) I would consider Wealth Counsel, Elder Counsel, Special Needs Alliance, Academy of Special Needs Planners, Elder Law Answers, and other for profit lawyer member/education organizations as decent organizations of which membership doesn't especially indicate whether a lawyer is competent. I'm curious what other lawyers think though.