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Professor Katherine C. Pearson   Katherine C. Pearson
Professor of Law

E-mail: kcp4@psu.edu
Phone: (717) 240-5219
Principal Office: Carlisle
Personal Website 
SSRN Profile 

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, regulation of continuing care retirement and life care communities, and public and private obligations under filial support laws. She is also 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. She was awarded a 2012 research grant by the Borchard Foundation.

Professor Pearson uses her background as a practicing attorney, with experience in jury trials, to inform her teaching, including classes on evidence, non-profit organizations, and contracts. Her international work includes courses on cross-border family law, and comparative social security policies. Professor Pearson created and directed the Elder Protection Clinic, which operated from 2001 to 2012, providing students with opportunities for "first chair" representation of older adults on cutting edge legal issues.

  

Books and Book Chapters

The Law of Financial Abuse and Exploitation (with Trisha Cowart) (Bisel Publishing, 2011).

“Filial Support Obligations in Pennsylvania Adult Children, Parents, and Spouses,” in Elder Law in Pennsylvania (Jeffrey Marshall, ed., 3d ed. 2011).

Selected Journal Articles

“Capacity, Conflict, and Change: Elder Law and Estate Planning Themes in an Aging World,” 117 Penn State L. Rev. 979 (2013)(Introduction to Symposium Issue). Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2255177.

“Filial Support Laws in the Modern Era: Domestic and International Comparison of Enforcement Practices for Laws Requiring Adult Children to Support Indigent Parents,” 20 Elder Law Journal 269 (2013). Available at SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2079753.

“Older People and Legal Advice: The Need for Joined Up and Creative Approaches,” UK 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 (2011) (with Joshua Wilkins) (Symposium on the Future of Elder Law).

“The Lesson of the Irish Family Pub: The Elder Law Clinic Path to a More Thoughtful Practice,” 40 Stetson L. Rev. 237 (Fall 2010, Elder Law Symposium Issue).

The Responsible Thing to do About “Responsible Party” Provisions in Nursing Home Agreements: A Proposal for Change on Three Fronts, 37 U. Mich. J. Law Reform 757 (No. 3, 2004) 

 

•Professor Katherine Pearson and several alumni to serve on Pennsylvania Supreme Court Elder Law Task Force
•Professor Katherine Pearson on nursing home debt collection research
•Professor Katherine Pearson encourages states and CCRC operators to prioritize residents' rights
•Professor Pearson quoted in WSJ article "Are you on the hook for Mom's nursing home bill?"
•Professor Pearson explains family support case on Radio Smart Talk
•Professor Pearson on Pennsylvania filial support case to Business Insider
•Professor Katherine Pearson explains new filial support case to ABCNews.com
•Professor Pearson on protections for whistle-blowers in long-term care facilities
•Professor Pearson discusses filial support laws on Australian national radio
•Professor Pearson to speak on preventing elder abuse
•Professor Pearson studies elderly access to justice
•Professor Katherine Pearson to chair London conference at the Brunel Institute for Ageing Studies
•Professor Pearson to address financial abuse of seniors at seminar in Ireland
•Professor Pearson discusses the elderly as targets of fraud on WITF-Smart Talk
•Professors co-author book on the law of financial abuse and exploitation
•Professor Katherine Pearson on continuing care retirement communities
•Professor Pearson to testify before U.S. Senate Committee on Aging today at 1:30 p.m.
•Professor Pearson will speak at Brunel University in London
•Two law faculty members receive Fulbright awards
•Professor Pearson quoted in national media about filial support laws

 


 

 


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