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Jane Handley, ’06, has been selected for the Equal Justice Works Elder Justice Program fellowship. Handley will spend her two-year fellowship at Indiana Legal Services in the Legal Assistance for Victimized Adults (LAVA) Project.

In a lot of ways, Handley is returning to what brought her to law school in the first place: a passion for elder law. “I entered law school because I wanted to work in elder law and that was what my application essay was about,” Handley said. She worked as a clerk for Scott R. Severns, ’79, in his elder law practice while she attended IU McKinney’s evening program. “Working during the day and going to school at night was… ‘character forming,’” she said.

Handley’s first job after law school was for the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, where she worked until 2013. She moved to New Mexico to work as an assistant district attorney, where she was tasked with prosecuting sex crimes and felonies where domestic violence occurred.

Much of her prosecution work has been in domestic violence, and elder abuse has most of the same elements, Handley said. Complex family dynamics, resistance to prosecuting loved ones, cultural considerations, evidentiary issues, shame/embarrassment, and the shroud of silence and hesitance to report the crime. According to the National Council on Aging, up to 5 million elders are abused each year; 1 in 10 Americans aged 60 and over have experienced some form of abuse, and one study estimates that only 1 in 14 cases of abuse is reported to authorities. In about 60% of the incidents, the perpetrator is a family member, Handley said, and two-thirds of those perpetrators are spouses or adult children.  

“When I saw that the Equal Justice Works Elder Justice Program was taking applications, it would be an understatement for me to say that I became very excited,” Handley said. “I felt that this was a perfect way for me to use the skills I’ve learned in prosecution and apply them to helping this especially vulnerable segment of society.”

 At Indiana Legal Services, Handley conducts civil litigation on behalf of Indiana residents aged 60 and older who have suffered forms of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, which also encompasses financial abuse and abuse of a Power of Attorney or Guardianship. She presents trainings for professionals and those who work with older adults, which now take place via Zoom because of the pandemic, and does outreach to the community to raise awareness of the services that LAVA provides across the state.

The Elder Justice Program, a two-year Equal Justice Works Fellowship program, is aimed at improving the national response to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. “Jane’s experience prosecuting domestic violence cases will be extremely valuable in her work at Indiana Legal Services, where she will help address the gap in civil legal services for victims of elder abuse and exploitation,” said Allie Yang-Green, senior program manager at Equal Justice Works. “We are honored to support her work as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in the Elder Justice Program.”

The Equal Justice Works Elder Justice Program is comprised of 22 Fellows (lawyers) who are hosted at legal services organizations across the country, where they will help to address the gap in civil legal services for victims of elder abuse and exploitation, with a special emphasis on serving rural communities. Fellows work on wide-ranging civil legal issues such as financial exploitation, housing, protection orders, guardianship, and public benefits.