Rules and Regulations

NELF was founded by the Board of Directors of The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) in 1993. It is a non-profit organization, dedicated to the development and improvement of the professional competence of lawyers in the area of elder law, and which is working to have the specialty recognized by judicial authorities and the organized bar in the United States. NELF created the Board of Certification to implement and administer a system to certify elder law attorneys. The board of certification (board) and its committees are made up of persons working in the elder law field as private attorneys, in the public sector, and as professors teaching elder law and related fields in law schools. Not all of its members are attorneys, and not all of its members are members of NAELA. The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates approved the National Elder Law Foundation as the certifying entity for specialization in elder law in February 1995.

The purpose of the certification program is to identify those lawyers who have the enhanced knowledge, skills, experience, and proficiency to be properly identified to the public as certified elder law attorneys. If all of the requirements of the board are satisfied, the attorney may announce that the attorney is "Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation."

Certification makes all of us nervous. We are all concerned about its cost to us and its impact on our practice if we are not yet able to satisfy the minimum requirements necessary to apply for certification. And - let’s face it - we are all scared silly about taking the exam. So why create a certification program?

Whether we individually like it or not, certification of specialties within the legal profession has begun, and will only gain momentum. This has occurred as the state bars and the public have become increasingly concerned about the existing and increasing practice of attorney self-designation of specialty (including in advertisements) a designation not buttressed by any objective proof of knowledge and experience in the claimed specialty. We certainly have seen this happening in elder law as more and more persons call themselves elder law attorneys, often despite the attorney’s lack of training or experience in the field.

Initially the movement toward certification took the form of state bar association certification programs. Several states have such programs in a number of specialties’ such as estates and trusts, and family law.

Next came the development of certification programs by private certification organizations, such as the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the Bankruptcy Board of Certification and the Commercial Law League. This required some states, and subsequently the American Bar Association (ABA), to develop programs to accredit private organizations as certifiers. Several states have already decided to "piggy back" on ABA certification. An additional group of states have developed their own programs for accrediting private organizations. Quite clearly this is an issue, which will not go away.

The issue was not would there be private certifiers, but rather who would be the private certifiers. As we had already seen in the CLE field, there had been a blossoming of private organizations offering elder law training of varying quality. While apparently no such organization had yet arisen in the certification field, there was no reason not to assume that the same thing would occur with respect to certification.

As the contents of NAELA’s annual symposia and institutes demonstrate, there is a parallel need to train new practitioners and increase the knowledge and skills of more experienced persons. Studies had already shown that certification resulted in attorneys seeking increased training. Thus, certification further increased an attorney’s knowledge and skills even before the attorney becomes certified.

For all these reasons, NAELA awarded the National Elder Law Foundation and its Board of Certification seed money to begin a totally voluntary certification program open to all attorneys.

Section 2 of the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Certification defines elder law for purposes of certification by NELF.

2.1 "Elder Law" is the legal practice of counseling and representing older persons and their representatives about the legal aspects of health and long term care planning, public benefits, surrogate decision-making, older persons’ legal capacity, the conservation, disposition and administration of older persons’ estates and the implementation of their decisions concerning such matters, giving due consideration to the applicable tax consequences of the action, or the need for more sophisticated tax expertise.

2.2 In addition, attorneys certified in elder law must be capable of recognizing issues of concern that arise during counseling and representation of older persons, or their representatives, with respect to abuse, neglect, or exploitation of the older person, insurance, housing, long term care, employment, and retirement. The certified elder law attorney must also be familiar with professional and non-legal resources and services publicly and privately available to meet the needs of the older persons, and be capable of recognizing the professional conduct and ethical issues that arise during representation.

All the experience, task, and examination requirements relate to these areas of law.

This definition of elder law is the result of a lengthy process, which began in 1988. It involved those who formed NAELA, NAELA board members during the years 1988 through 1993, the Fellows of NAELA, the membership of NAELA, the members of the board of certification, and the ABA Standing Committee on Specialization. NAELA and its members have been involved at every step in the process of defining this new and growing specialty.

The minimum standards for certification are set out in Section 5 of the Rules and Regulations adopted by the board of certification. The standards were adopted after much debate by NAELA’s Board, NAELA’s members and the board of certification itself. However, to some extent the board was limited in how it could set those requirements.

In order for certification to be useful to an attorney the certification process must be approved by the ABA and the state bars. Thus the board of certification’s Rules and Regulations must at least satisfy the minimum requirements that would have to be met in order to receive approval as an accrediting organization from the ABA and various state organizations. Under ABA requirements, a certification applicant must have been in practice for at least five years and must have been substantially involved in the specialty area during the three-year period immediately preceding the date of their short form application to the certifying organization. Substantial involvement, as defined by the ABA, is measured by the type and number of cases or matters handled and the amount of time spent practicing in the specialty area. Also required are a minimum of five favorable references from attorneys, a majority of whom are attorneys who practice in one or more areas constituting elder law, a written examination, and a minimum of 45 hours of participation in continuing legal education in the specialty area in the three-year period preceding the lawyer’s short form application.

Certification is open to all who qualify, without regard to age, race, religion, color, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, or physical ability and without regard to membership in NAELA. Once certification is granted, it is effective for five years. Re-certification is not automatic, and requires satisfaction of criteria similar to that necessary for initial certification.

The following briefly describes the minimum standards, which must be met to become certified. These standards are more fully specified in Section 5 of the Rules and Regulations.

1. Licensure. You must be licensed to practice law in at least one state or the District of Columbia.
2. Practice. You must have practiced law during the five-years preceding your short form application and must still be practicing law. If you were a full-time probate judge or a full-time professor at an accredited law school, the standards committee of the board may credit such time toward this requirement.
3. Integrity and Good Standing. You must be either a member in good standing of the bars in all places in which you are licensed or have been a member in good standing at the time any license was voluntarily surrendered.
4. Substantial Involvement/Experience. You must have spent an average of at least 16 hours per week, practicing elder law as defined by Section 2 of the Rules and Regulations during each of the three-years immediately preceding your short form application. In addition, you must have handled at least 60 elder law matters during those three-years, with a specified distribution among subjects as described in Section 5.1.4.2 of the Rules and Regulations.
5. Continuing Legal Education. You must have participated in at least 45 hours of continuing legal education in elder law during the preceding three-years.
6. Peer Review/Professional References. You must submit the names of five references from attorneys familiar with your competence and qualifications in elder law. These persons must themselves satisfy specified criteria. They will be contacted directly by the board of certification, and each person’s response will be confidential and unavailable to you.
7. Examination. You must sit for the certification examination within two-years of filing your short form application.

Short-Form Application Fee: $ 25.00

Long Form Application Fee: $275.00

Examination Fee: $450.00 - Using Your Laptop and the ExamSoft Program

$600.00 - Completing the Exam Manually

Annual Fee: $300.00

Late Fee: $25.00

The board has set the fees at an amount intended to make the certification process self-sufficient. Certification costs money. The board has paid staff to establish and administer the system and to act as liaison with NELF, the American Bar Association’s Committee on Specialization, and the various state bars. While those on the board of certification and its committees have volunteered their time, there will be costs associated with their meetings.

Fees must be paid to the ABA and various state bars for the NELF and its board of certification to be accredited, and annual fees are required to continue the accreditation. Those fees are high. For example, it will cost $3,500 to be accredited for five years by the ABA. Many states will not simply accept ABA’s designation, thus requiring additional applications for accreditation, with accompanying fees, to the appropriate organizations.

Designing a system to identify elder law practitioners with a demonstrated enhanced level of skill and knowledge is a challenge. When a client goes to a certified elder law attorney’s office, the client has the right to expect that the attorney will be able to identify all of the client’s needs and either take care of those needs, or notify the client of the problem and refer the client to someone else who can. Thus Section 5.1.4.2 of our certification regulations presents a formidable listing of areas of law in which the certified elder law practitioner is expected to have knowledge and experience so as to be able to meet the client’s expectations. However this section does not mandate that the practitioner must have the in-depth knowledge to personally meet each of those needs. Rather it is expected that the elder law attorney will have in-depth knowledge of the “core” areas, identified in Sections 5.1.4.2 (A) (1) through (5) and at least a working knowledge of Sections (6) through (12). In addition, a certified elder law attorney must have an understanding of the ethical issues involved in this specialty and of the aging network in which the attorney must interact.

Copyright, 1994

1.1 The National Elder Law Foundation Board of Certification is dedicated to the development and improvement of the professional competence of lawyers in the area of elder law. In furtherance of that goal, the purpose of the certification procedure is to identify those lawyers who practice in this area, and who have the special knowledge, skills, experience and proficiency to be properly identified to the public as certified elder law attorneys.

1.2 Certification is individual and voluntary.

1.3 Certification shall not in any way limit the right of a certified elder law attorney to practice law in all fields.

1.4 No lawyer shall be required to obtain a certificate as an elder law attorney before practicing elder law.

1.5 Certification is open to all who qualify. Application with the appropriate fee shall be made to the board of certification of the National Elder Law Foundation (hereafter referred to as the board of certification) on the forms it shall supply.

1.6 Certification is open to all qualified applicants without regard to age, race, religion, color, ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, or physical ability.

1.7 All applications and other information submitted to the board of certification as part of this certification process shall be privileged and confidential, except that the board, as may be authorized by its rules, may reveal that an application has been made for the purposes of (a) verifying information submitted by the applicant or (b) making inquiries with respect to the character and professional reputation of the applicant.

2.1 "Elder Law" is the legal practice of counseling and representing older persons and their representatives about the legal aspects of health and long term care planning, public benefits, surrogate decision making, older persons’ legal capacity, the conservation, disposition and administration of older persons’ estates and the implementation of their decisions concerning such matters, giving due consideration to the applicable tax consequences of the action, or the need for more sophisticated tax expertise.

2.2 In addition, attorneys certified in elder law must be capable of recognizing issues of concern that arise during counseling and representation of older persons, or their representatives, with respect to abuse neglect, or exploitation of the older person, insurance, housing, long term care, employment, and retirement. The certified elder law attorney must also be familiar with professional and non-legal resources and services publicly and privately available to meet the needs of the older persons, and be capable of recognizing the professional conduct and ethical issues that arise during representation.

The certification system shall be administered by the board of certification and its standards, examination and information committees. A majority of the members on the board of certification, standards committee, examination committee and information committee shall be lawyers who have substantial involvement in elder law.

3.1 Board of Certification. The chair and members of the board of certification shall be appointed by the Board of Directors of the National Elder Law Foundation in such numbers as the board of directors deems appropriate. The chair of the board of certification, with approval of the board, shall be responsible for appointing the chairs and members of the standards committee, the examination committee, and the information committee, and shall supervise their work. The board of certification shall certify all attorneys in elder law in accordance with these Rules and Regulations.

3.2 Standards Committee. The standards committee shall be composed of a chair and such members as the chair of the board of certification shall appoint. It shall (1) review and approve the format of all application and reference forms used by the board of certification; (2) determine whether particular applicants have met the standards for certification; (3) approve continuing legal education courses; (4) grant waivers or modifications of specific certification requirements for good cause shown: and (5) decide all requests for reconsideration of denials, revocations, or suspensions of certifications, except reconsideration requests relating to the certification examination.

3.3 Examination Committee. The examination committee shall be composed of a chair and such members as the chair of the board of certification shall appoint. The examination committee shall prepare and grade the certification examination, and shall prepare the answers to the examination questions to be used by the examination graders. Prior to the administration of the certification examination, the chair of the examination committee shall review and approve all examination questions prepared by the examination committee. The examination committee shall have primary responsibility for grading the examination questions that it prepares; and shall develop a procedure for reviewing and, if deemed appropriate by the committee, re-grading any applicant’s exam that receives a failing grade.

3.4 Information Committee. The information committee shall be composed of a chair and such members as the chair of the board of certification shall appoint. The committee (1) shall develop written information materials, which may be used by persons considering certification, and (2) may offer workshops, which may be taken by persons considering certification.

3.5 Meetings. The standards committee, the examination committee and the information committee may meet in person or by any means of communication through which all members participating may communicate with each other during the meeting. Meetings shall be held upon reasonable notice to all committee members. A majority of the members of the committee shall constitute the quorum necessary for the transaction of business.

3.6 Term of Service. The chair and members of the standards committee, the examination committee and the information committee shall serve at the pleasure of the chair of the board of certification and may be removed and replaced as provided in the bylaws of the National Elder Law Foundation.

4.1 Application Forms. Application for certification shall be made in writing on such forms as the standards committee may approve. The standards committee shall develop both a short form and a long form application, both of which shall be completed by the applicant. The standards committee may require the applicant to submit information in addition to that called for on the short form and/or long form application forms.

4.3 Procedures

5.1 Standards for Initial Certification. To quality for certification, the applicant shall pay all required fees meet the conditions of Section 4, and meet the following minimum standards:

5.2 Standards for Re-Certification. The period of certification is five years. A certificate holder who desires continued certification shall apply for re-certification within the time limits prescribed in Section 4.3.3. To be eligible for re-certification, the certificate holder shall pay all required fees and meet the following minimum standards:

6.1 Petitions for Reconsideration. After written notice has been sent by the board of certification that an application for certification or re-certification has been denied, or a certificate has been revoked or suspended, the applicant may petition the board of certification for reconsideration. Such petition must be received by the board of certification within 30 days of the date that the notice was sent by the board. The petition may be informal, but shall be in writing and adequately identify the determination for which reconsideration is requested, the date of mailing of such determination, the reasons the determination should be altered, and the relief requested.

6.2 Determination Relating to the Certification Examination. If a petition for reconsideration questions the applicant’s performance on the certification, the petition shall be forwarded to the examination committee. The examination committee shall decide whether to grant the requested relief after considering the applicant’s petition, the applicant’s examination, and any additional information obtained by the committee. The applicant shall be advised of the examination committee’s decision by written notice mailed within 15 days after the decision has been made.

6.3 Determinations Relating to the Certification Application or Standards. If a petition for reconsideration questions an aspect of the certification program other than the applicant’s performance on the certification examination, the petition shall be forwarded to the standards committee. The standards committee shall decide whether to grant the requested relief after considering the applicant’s petition and any additional information obtained by the committee. The applicant shall be advised of the standards committee’s decision by written notice mailed within 15 days after the decision has been made.

6.4 Hearings. Although there is no right to a hearing on a petition for reconsideration, the appropriate committee may, in its discretion, grant the petitioner an in person or telephone hearing.

6.5 Appeal. An appellant who fails to achieve a passing score on the exam may appeal in writing to the Executive Director of the NELF Board provided any such request must be made within thirty (30 days) from the date appellant's written notification of a non-passing score is mailed to appellant.

The appellant may review copies of his or her own graded exam and examples of exam answers of those who took the examination with the appellant which are considered to be more appropriate concerning questions for which the appellant may have been scored low. The appellant may take notes during the review in the presence of the proctor, but shall not have or make copies of the exam or any other materials presented during the review.

Such review shall be at a date, time and in the office of a CELA proctor or other location chosen by the Executive Director to facilitate the convenience of the appellant and shall be held within forty five [45] days after the Executive Director's confirmation of receipt of Appellant's written appeal request. Any such review shall not exceed two hours.

The appellant may also request his or her average scores for each question and the lowest, highest and average scores for each question among those who took the examination with the appellant.

The appellant shall have a right to a hearing before a three person Appeals Committee to be chosen by Executive Director provided appellant has first reviewed his or her exam as provided above and appellant's score is no lower than ten [10] points below the minimum passing grade. The Appeals Committee will be made up of two members of the NELF Board of Directors and one CELA who is not a NELF director or officer. None of the three person Appeals Committee members may have taken part in the grading of the exam being appealed or served on the Appeals Committee of a prior appeal taken by the appellant.

The appellant is permitted to prepare a written response to the Appeals Committee concerning the exam with any comments the appellant may have.

Additionally, the appellant may make an oral presentation to the Appeals Committee not to exceed 30 minutes at a mutually acceptable time and place [which may be telephonically] within thirty (30) business days from the date of the exam review.

The Appeals Committee has authority to overturn any graded results. During its deliberations, the Appeals Committee may review:

All appellant's exam questions and answers

The answers of those who took the examination with the appellant

Model answers prepared by the exam drafting committee

The appellant's written response and oral presentation to the Appeals Committee [if any]

Any other information or documentation it might find pertinent in determining its findings

The decision of the Appeals Committee is final.

Section 7

7.1 Notification of State Supreme Court. Upon certification or re-certification, the board of certification shall notify the Supreme Court, or other appropriate authority in each jurisdiction in which the attorney is licensed to actively practice law, of the certification or re-certification and request notice of any future disciplinary action taken against the attorney.

8.1 Written Disclosure. Except as restricted by applicable law, an attorney holding a current certification from the board of certification shall use the following language to disclose the certification in written communication: “Certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation.”

9.1 Procedure. These Rules and Regulations may be amended as provided in the bylaws of the National Elder Law Foundation.

Current Certification Fees

Short-Form Application Fee: $ 25.00

Long Form Application Fee: $275.00

Annual Fee: $300.00

Late Fee: $ 25.00

1994, National Elder Law Foundation

Revised December 1994 

Revised August 1995

Revised May 2003

Revised November 2006 

Revised October 2010