Katherine C. Pearson
Professor of Law
Director, Elder Protection Clinic
Education:
J.D., University of Miami
B.A., University of Arizona
Professor Katherine Pearson is a scholar of legal issues facing older adults, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to elder care. Her recent scholarship focuses on protection of older adults from abuse, including financial exploitation, regulation of continuing care retirement communities (also known as life care communities), and resource management. She founded and co-directs the Penn State Elder Protection Clinic. She is an Affiliated Faculty member of the John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State University.
A 2009-2010 Fulbright scholar, Professor Pearson was the Petersen Visiting Scholar in Gerontology and Family Studies at Oregon State University and a scholar in residence at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, where she conducted interdisciplinary research on policies related to protection and care for older adults.
Professor Pearson is frequently invited to speak on law and aging policy topics, including appearances before the National Guardianship Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the National Council on Family Relations, and the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education Conference. In November 2010, Professor Pearson presented a paper, co-authored with Joe Duffy of Queen’s University Belfast, for a panel addressing new areas of research in “ambivalence” at the annual Gerontological Society of America. In February 2011, she took the topic to an international stage, speaking on “Legal Implications of Ambivalence in Caregiver Relationships” for a seminar in Ireland by the National Centre for the Protection of Older People at University College Dublin, and at Brunel University's Institute of Ageing Studies Conference on "Detecting and Preventing Financial Abuse" in London on March 2011.
In July 2010 Professor Pearson called for a national CCRC Residents’ Bill of Rights in oral and written testimony before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Her appearance was at the invitation of Senators Herb Kohl (D. Wisc.) and Bob Corker (R. Tenn.) regarding financial stability and regulation of Continuing Care Retirement Communities. The hearing followed the release of “Continuing Care Retirement Communities: Secure Retirement or Risky Investment?,” a GAO Report which cites Professor Pearson’s analysis of state regulation of CCRCs.
Professor Pearson uses her background as a practicing attorney, with more than a dozen years of experience in jury trials, to inform her teaching, including classes on evidence, non-profit organizations, contracts, and advocacy skills. Her international work includes courses on cross-border family law, law and aging policy, and comparative social security policies.
Contact Information:
E-mail: kcp4@psu.edu
Phone: (717) 240-5219
Principal Office: Carlisle
Personal Web page with links to publications
Selected Publications:
Books and Book Chapters
The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation (with Professor Trisha Cowart) (Bisel Publishing Co. 2011).
Filial Support Obligations in Pennsylvania: Adult Children, Parents and Spouses, Elder Law in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey Marshall, ed., 3d ed. 2011).
Journal Articles
“Filial Support Laws in the United States and Ukraine: A Modern Comparison of Laws Requiring Adult Children to Support Indigent Parents,” ___ Elder Law Journal ___ (forthcoming Fall 2012) (with concurrent publication in Ukrainian language in 
(forthcoming May 2012).
“Older People and Legal Advice: The Need for Joined Up and Creative Approaches,” Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law (with J. Duffy & S. Basu), Vol. 34, No. 1. (2012), pp. 31-47.
“Will Continuing Care Retirement Communities Continue?” 82 Pa. B. Quarterly 69 (April 2011) (with Joshua Wilkins).
The Lesson of the Irish Family Pub: The Elder Law Clinic Path to a More Thoughtful Practice, 40 Stetson L. Rev. 237 (Fall 2010, Symposium Issue).
