KU law student's essay on fair housing for retirees wins in national competition

LAWRENCE -- A University of Kansas law student's essay on fair housing in retirement communities has won second place in a national competition.

Lauren Rebecca Sturm of Scotch Plains, N.J., took second place in the 2003 Law and Aging Student Essay Competition for her essay, "Fair Housing Issues in Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs):ÊCan Residents Be Transferred Without Their Consent?"

The American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging and the FJC Foundation sponsored the contest. The top three essays and one honorable mention work have been accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of the New York City Law Review, published by the City University of New York School of Law.

Sturm, daughter of Michael and Judith Sturm of Scotch Plains, N.J., is a third-year law student. She plans to graduate in May 2004 and to seek a career in public interest and elder law.

Sturm originally wrote the paper for an independent study assignment during a summer 2002 internship with the Department of Housing and Urban Development regional office in Kansas City, Mo. For the competition, she revised and expanded it to include ideas from her experiences working in the KU School of Law's elder law clinic in 2002. The elder law clinic is a clinical class in the law school where students work under supervision of attorneys from Kansas Legal Services.

Sturm also had received a $1,000 Educational Opportunity Fund grant through KU's Student Senate to support her pro bono services during her internship at HUD.

The Law and Aging Student Essay Competition is supported by a grant from the FJC, a foundation of donor-advised funds whose mission is to increase and maximize the impact of charitable dollars and create innovative philanthropic solutions. The purpose of the competition is to reward innovative student research and original writing on issues concerning law and aging and to promote recognition of the value of this type of legal work. The competition is open to current law students in ABA-accredited law schools, as well as to those who have graduated within the past year.

The mission of the ABA Commission on Law and Aging is to strengthen and secure the legal rights, dignity, autonomy, quality of life and quality of care of elders. The commission examines a wide range of law-related issues, including legal services to older people; health and long-term care; housing needs; professional ethical issues; Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other public benefit programs; planning for incapacity; guardianship; elder abuse; health care decision-making; pain management and end-of-life care; dispute resolution; and court-related needs of older people with disabilities.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. With more than 410,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.