Attorneys Offer Advice About Advance Health Care Directives "Living Wills"

Minneapolis (4-25-05): -- A free “Ask-A-Lawyer” event will be available for the public on Tuesday, May 3 through Friday, May 6, at Gaviidae Common as part of the nationally observed Law Week. Attorneys will be available to answer questions about “living wills” from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Gaviidae Common, 651 Nicollet Mall, in downtown Minneapolis.

The Hennepin County Bar Association (HCBA) and the Minnesota Paralegal Association sponsor “Ask-A-Lawyer” each year in celebration of Law Day (May 1), an annual observance, established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958 as a means of strengthening the American heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under the law. Bar associations and other civic groups make Law Day, and the week in which it falls, a focus for their community service and legal education programs.

This year’s Ask-A-Lawyer program will focus on health care directives (“living wills”) because of the considerable attention this issue has been receiving lately. Health care directive forms will be distributed to the public and volunteer lawyers will answer general questions about care directives and related issues. A notary public will be on site to verify documents for people who have taken the time to consider and complete their health care directives in advance. Copies of the HCBA’s health care directive booklet and forms are available without charge online at www.hcba.org.

The HCBA, the largest of Minnesota's 21 county bar associations and representing almost half of Minnesota's attorneys, is a private, non-profit organization which provides or supports many free or low-cost services to the public including: Volunteer Lawyers Network which provides free legal advice for low income people; TEL-LAW, a legal information message system available at no charge in local calling areas; Lawyer Referral and Information Services; public education programming; and financial grants through the Bar Foundation.
 

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