About Renée

My focus is Estate Planning and Elder Law. I started my legal career as an associate with a Boston estate-planning and family-law firm (Berlin, Clarey, Cohen & Green), leaving after five years to pursue a passion for the culinary arts.

When I returned to law, it was to the field of employment law litigation representing plaintiffs in Northern and Southern California. Looking for a respite from the rigors of litigation, I pursued a Master’s Degree from UCLA in Information Studies, and was a law librarian and professor of legal research at Loyola Law School, the University of Southern California School of Law, and upon returning to Massachusetts, at Western New England University School of Law.

When I returned to Massachusetts in 2005, I discovered that a beloved aunt was showing signs of degenerating mental health. As my aunt’s Attorney-in-Fact (the result of holding her Durable Power of Attorney), I began a seven year odyssey of taking care of her, including getting her placed in an assisted living facility, eventually moving her to the Memory Loss Ward, obtaining a complete guardianship over her, securing VA Aid-and-Attendance benefits, getting her placed  in a nursing home, and finally, when her finances were exhausted, qualifying her for Medicaid, a month before she died. Throughout this experience, I was shocked, despite my extensive legal background, by how little I knew about the aging process, how little assistance was available to guide me, and how expensive it all was. There are many things I would have done differently had I the knowledge I have today. After recovering from my aunt’s death, I resolved to focus on this area of law to help make the process smoother and less costly for others, and with that resolve, I studied for an advanced law degree (the LLM) in the specialized areas of Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Helping people with their estate plans and helping those who face important decisions in their later years is deeply satisfying. I look forward to helping you.

Let’s make a plan.

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