FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – May 20, 2015 – Attorneys with the Fort Lauderdale office of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, in conjunction with Dr. Stanley and Pearl Goodman Jewish Family Services of Broward, will host a free Holocaust Survivor Estate Planning Clinic for JFS clients from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Daniel Cantor Senior Center, 5000 N. Nob Hill Road, Sunrise, Florida, 33351. The event is not open to the public.
The attorneys will provide pro bono legal services and help Holocaust survivors prepare estate planning documents, including wills, health care advance directives, and durable powers of attorney. The event, organized by Fort Lauderdale Greenberg Traurig Shareholders Caran Rothchild and Parker F. Taylor, is the first of several clinics for Holocaust survivors that the firm plans to host this year throughout South Florida.
“Greenberg Traurig has a long history of giving back to the community, and we are proud to continue to build upon that tradition by providing pro bono estate planning clinics to help some of our community’s most vulnerable members – Holocaust survivors,” said Rothchild, who works in the firm’s Litigation and Labor and Employment Practice Groups.
Added Taylor, who works in the firm’s Trusts and Estates Practice Group: “As Holocaust survivors who were children and teenagers in the 1940s continue to get older, there is a serious need to help them assemble the critical legal documents they need to legally protect their estates and ensure their wishes will be carried out. Many do not have the resources to access these legal services or are not aware that they need these services. We look forward to filling this void by providing pro bono estate planning clinics throughout South Florida.”
Other Greenberg Traurig Fort Lauderdale attorneys participating in the program include: Jordan A.E. Franklin, Jenna M. McNamara, Julie C. Morgan, and Stephanie L. Stein.
“We are extremely grateful to Greenberg Traurig for its generous support which will bring tremendous benefit to Holocaust survivors in South Florida, who deserve to age with dignity and the peace of mind that their best interests are being protected,” said Elizabeth Sumpf, licensed clinical social worker with Goodman JFS.
In addition to the estate planning clinic, Greenberg Traurig has hosted other pro bono clinics in recent years for Holocaust survivors. Between 2008 and 2010, more than 40 Greenberg Traurig attorneys from six offices provided legal services to more than 100 Holocaust survivors, many of whom were living below the poverty level, to begin receiving reparations from the German government. It’s estimated that there are close to 130,000 Holocaust survivors in the U.S. and 30 percent are living at or below the poverty line – which is three times the poverty rate for most older Americans.
Organizations in South Florida interested in scheduling Holocaust Survivor Estate Planning Clinics with Greenberg Traurig should contact Dawn R. Wolf, Probono Coordinator, at 202-530-8545 or wolfda@gtlaw.com.
About Goodman JFS of Broward
For the past 50 years, Dr. Stanley and Pearl Goodman Jewish Family Services of Broward has helped thousands of residents of Broward County with life’s hardest challenges. Regardless of religion, race, income or status, JFS provides life sustaining programs, which empower individuals, strengthen families and protect the vulnerable. Our services offer hope and dignity to people who need a lifeline, physically, emotionally or financially. Through mental health counseling, emergency financial assistance, care for seniors, clothing for children, assistance for Holocaust survivors and much more, we try to make sure that no one in our community feels alone or without hope. For additional information, please visit www.jfsbroward.org.