Seminars abound at Annual Meeting.

Seminars to help lawyers assist their aging parents or kids in need of legal help--as well as for lawyer and client problems for all ages in between--will be featured at seminars at the Bar's June 23-26 Annual Meeting at the Boca Raton Resort and Club.

The parental course--Aging Parents: What Attorneys Need to Know for Their Parents--and the child course--So You Want to Represent a Kid: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Advocating for Children--are the convention's President's Showcase seminars.

The Aging Parents session is being presented by the Elder Law Section.

"It's going to help educate our colleagues who are not elder law attorneys," said Stephanie Schneider, section chair. "Many people today find themselves in that sandwich generation of raising children and having to take care of their parents. Being an attorney doesn't mean you're prepared."

The seminar educates lawyers about available resources, what to expect with aging parents, and the importance of planning ahead, Schneider said.

Specific topics include advanced directives, dealing with second marriages and blended families, Medicaid, housing options, long-term care, and tax issues for the elderly. The course is set from 2 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 24.

The seminar on representing kids is a joint project between the Public Interest Law Section and the Family Law Section.

"Generally we're trying to reach people who don't necessarily do family or marital law and who don't traditionally do public interest law, but can do things in law to help children," said Tom Sasser, who is chairing the seminar for the Family Law Section. "It's sort of nuts and bolts in how to deal with issues related to children. No matter where you are in the profession, you can take things from it to represent a child in a pro bono case. That's the bottom line, to get more people to do pro bono."

Outgoing Bar President Miles McGrane will make introductory remarks along with Ft. Lauderdale attorney Walter Honaman. Supreme Court Chief Justice-elect Barbara Pariente will talk about advocating for children.

Other topics to be covered include ethical representation of children, working with nonlawyer professionals, divided families, helping disabled students, school discipline, surrogate parenting for dependent children, mental health care and psychotropic medications, foster care and the dependency system, and representing older foster children.

As a bonus those who take the course and pledge...