Planning for the Future

W&L Law students offer free estate planning to area residents.

the necessary documents under the supervision of practicing lawyers. They meet clients in Lewis Hall, but also travel to Roanoke, Lynchburg or elsewhere to meet with those unable to travel.

Destiny Kosloske ’22L worried that the conversations with clients would be uncomfortable or too morbid, but she found just the opposite.

“It was surprising to me how willing people are to talk about these matters,” she said, recalling some clients — a young couple expecting their first child. “They reached out because they want to plan for the future, and they were relieved to have something in place.”

Like other upper-level students participating in the law school’s legal clinics or similar actual practice experiences, Kosloske is also learning to work with people with different schedules and busy lives.

“We don’t have a lot of time with them,” she said. “But it is important we make them feel as comfortable as possible when discussing something so important.”

What happens when we die?

While that question may seem suited to the halls of the philosophy and religion departments, you can also find answers in the law school, especially when dealing with the practical matters that surround the end of life. This is just what law students in Professor Bob Danforth’s Trusts and Estates Practicum are doing by offering free estate planning throughout the region.

Danforth has been teaching the class for many of years and introduced a live-client component three years ago. Initially offered to cancer patients and first responders, the free legal assistance was