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Arizona Elder Law Attorneys Needed As Aging Population Grows

As the population grows older, more attorneys are practicing elder law. That’s according to an article in the American Bar Association Journal. But that trend isn’t being seen in Arizona.

By 2035, the number of older adults, people 65 and older, will outnumber children for the first time, according to the U.S. Census.  And older adults — and their adult children — sometimes have needs that require an attorney like Bridget O’Brien Swartz who specializes in elder law at Dyer Bregman & Ferris.

"The need for that type of attorney has risen, but the number of attorneys hasn’t at the same rate at least not in Arizona," said O’Brien Swartz. "We’re a very smallgroup of attorneys and we could use some more to service our elderly in this state."

O’Brien Swartz says most law schools don’t offer any curriculum regarding elder law, so law students are not being introduced to this practice. 

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.