Ronald B Wheatley

Ronald Wheatley Brief Biography

Mr. Wheatley has had an eclectic practice of over 30 years handling very complex and high profile legal, policy and regulatory issues in both the private and public sectors, including service as legal advisor to the Executive Office of the President, and the Department of State.  While with the federal government, Mr. Wheatley served as a delegate on two United States Delegations to the United Nations Subcommittee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, dealing with Direct Broadcast Satellites, and on one United States delegation to the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland dealing with the sharing among nations of the use electronic spectrum.  Mr. Wheatley subsequently served as Regional Attorney, AT&T Government Relations where he was responsible for the Northeast Region of the Country, that is, the New England States plus New York.  On the state government level Mr. Wheatley served as a Hearing Officer at the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications & Energy, aka, Department of Public Utilities.  He also served as Counsel to the Transportation Department there. 

In 1990 Mr. Wheatley established his own law firm in Scituate Massachusetts dealing with wills and estates and estate administration, while at the same time serving for a number of years in a part time pro-bono capacity as “Lawyer of the Day” in Plymouth Probate Court.

Reporting on Mr. Wheatley who has been active in protecting the rights of older workers, the Quincy Patriot Ledger, (Quincy, Massachusetts) in an article entitled “Ruling broadens workers’ rights,” observed “[Wheatley’s] case has already caused broader legal issues than Wheatley ever intended.”  Mr. Wheatley’s case was voted in the top ten of civil cases in Massachusetts.   Articles on Mr. Wheatley have also appeared in the “Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.”  Mr. Wheatley co-authored an article that appeared in the Emory Law Journal.

As a Vietnam veteran, Mr. Wheatley is active in Veterans affairs.  He serves as the Judge Advocate General of Scituate Post #144 of the American Legion.  Mr. Wheatley writes a column entitled “Calling All Veterans,” which is published in the Scituate Mariner.  He has written op-ed pieces that have appeared in the Boston Herald, and for his other local newspaper, “The Tiny Town Gazette.”

In 1995, Mr. Wheatley, and his wife, made a decision to bring his wife’s nearly blind mother who was in a senior assisted living facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, to live with them in Scituate, Massachusetts. During the years that Mr. Wheatley and his wife cared for their loved one at home, they not only kept her out of a nursing home, saving tens of thousands of dollars, and providing a loving home environment for her, but also learned the valuable practical lessons of needs and concerns involved in caring for the elderly, especially in the home environment – lessons that can only come from experience.  Mr. Wheatley’s mother-in-law passed peacefully at the age of 102 at the Wheatley home surrounded by her family.

This experience was the catalyst for Mr. Wheatley to include in his practice of preserving elder workers and veterans rights, and wills and estates, the area of elder law, including such issues as assisted living, nursing home, and hospice care.  This hands-on experience of caring for an elderly handicapped loved-one at home, interacting with third party care providers, local and federal social service industries, and of the issues facing care givers is experience beyond the traditional legal advice and planning services of many attorneys in the field.  Mr. Wheatley understands the desire for elders to remain in their homes rather than going to a nursing home, and he works with them to achieve that end.  Mr. Wheatley is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, NAELA, and a member of the Disabled American Veterans, DAV in Cohasset, Massachusetts. 

He is admitted to practice law and is active in both the District of Columbia and Massachusetts Bar Associations.  For more information, please see Mr. Wheatley’s website at:  .