Elder-law attorneys establish office

A book club friendship that started five years ago led to the opening of a new law firm, Zerrer & Pruitt LLC, at 1147 E. Walnut.

Lois M. Zerrer said she and Re-becca L. Pruitt will focus on in elder law, ap-peals, nonprofit organizations and health law in their firm which opened Jan. 2 in the Mosher House, a historic home restored by Young & Schuler LLC, with whom they share office space.

Elder law focuses on issues affecting the elderly and disabled, including help in getting public benefits; probate and es-tate planning; guardianships and conservatorships; health and long-term care planning; and elder abuse.

They met when mutual friends from St. John's Health System Inc., where Pruitt worked, invited Pruitt to attend a book club. When Pruitt moved to Oklahoma for a new job, she and Zerrer kept in touch, Zer-rer said.

Former executive director of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, Zerrer is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.

Pruitt, a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, has an undergraduate degree in social work and developed a specialty in ethics and end-of-life issues. She is the former vice president of mission and ethics with Mercy Health System in Okla-homa, and worked for about 2 1/2 years in the ethics department at St. John's, Zerrer said.

Also licensed with the Illinois Bar Association, Pruitt is much in demand as a speaker for the Catholic Health As-sociation and Mercy Health Systems, Zerrer added.

"She has a lot of background in guard-ianships, end-of-life issues and health care directives," Zerrer said.

Zerrer, who became bar director in 1989, said "she needed a change of pace" and so resigned effective Oct. 19, 2001, to return to the practice of law. But being bar director had its benefits she was able to keep up with changes in the law because the local bar provides continuing legal education programs.

"I have way more CLE than I ever needed. If I wrote down everything I sat through, it would be 80, closer to 90, hours a year," Zerrer said. Missouri law-yers must attend 15 hours of continuing legal education each year to maintain their licenses.

Despite all those CLE hours, Zerrer said she and Pruitt want to further their education and have attended many CLE programs, including one on law practice management, and another on tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. The next program they will attend is on nursing home litigation, she said.

The pair have also applied for membership in the National Academy of El-der Law Attorneys, Zerrer said.