Lecturer Susan Field

Biography

Sue Field is the inaugural New South Wales Trustee & Guardian Fellow in Elder Law at School of Law, UWS (formerly the New South Wales Public Trustee Fellow in Elder Law). Sue is admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and on the roll of the High Court of Australia and an Australian Legal Practitioner. Sue has presented at numerous national and international conferences on topics related to legal issues affecting older persons. Her work involves research, education, training and consultancies in the emerging specialty of Elder Law. Sue is currently undertaking a PhD in the area of testamentary disputes. Sue is a former member of the Law Society of New South Wales Elder Law and Succession Committee, a current member of the Law Society of New South Wales Medico-legal Liasion Committee, a Ministerial Appointment to the New South Wales Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing, a former member of the Advisory Council of the Office of the Protective Commissioner, a member of the Board of the Council on the Ageing (NSW) (COTA). Chair of the COTA Legal Response Group and a member of the Management Committee of the Aged care Rights Service. Sue is co-editor, with Professor Carolyn Sappideen, of the Elder Law Review, the only refereed elder law journal in Australia.

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Areas of Research / Teaching Expertise

Elder Law;

Adult Learning;

Cert IV in Financial Services (Personal Trust Administration).

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Grants / Current Projects

Research:

Accommodation issues for older persons, including, but not limited to retirement villages, aged care facilities, "granny" flats and reverse mortgages;

Substitute Decision Making, including, but not limited to, powers of attorney (general and enduring), financial abuse, enduring guardianship and advance care directives;

Grandparents rights and responsibilities;

Finanacial issues associated with ageing;

Estate disputes.

Community Interests:

Presentations to community groups;

Presentations to professional groups and organisations;

Development of elder law program for legal practitioners;

Development of mental capacity resources/guidelines for medical practitioners

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Awards and Recognition

Appointed Distinguished Fellow at the Canadian Centre for Elder Law Studies (2005, ongoing);

Affiliated Faculty Member, Center for Elder Justice & Policy, William Mitchell College of Law, (2008, ongoing);

Member, International Federation on Ageing Special Advisory Committee on Law and Ageing (2008, ongoing);

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Publications

Selected Publication:

Field, S ‘Assessing Mental Capacity’, Precedent, Issue 86 – May/June 2008 pp 45-48.

Field, S ‘Powers of Attorney - Part II’, The Justice of the Peace, Vol 48 Number 1, March 2008.

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Optional

Selected Conferences– 2008 only

‘Financial abuse of older women’, Older Women’s Network National Conference, Melbourne, December, 2008;

‘Legal frameworks in palliative care’, Catholic Healthcare, Sydney, November, 2008;

‘Challenges with mental capacity assessment tools’, Centre for Personhood and Dementia, University of British Columbia, November, 2008;

‘Sexuality in Long Term Care’ 4th Canadian Elder Law Conference, Vancouver, November, 2008;

‘Legal Issues in Dementia’ NSW Dementia Conference, Sydney,
October, 2008;

‘Legal Issues associated with Financial Elder Abuse’, Elder Abuse Prevention Association, Melbourne, October, 2008;

‘Granny Flats, guarantors and other gremlins’, Law Society of Tasmania, Hobart, October, 2008;

‘Current Issues in Elder Law’ Australian Guardianship and Administration Committee, Hobart, October, 2008;

‘Challenges in Elder Law’ Trustee Corporations Association of Australia, National Council dinner speaker, Sydney, October, 2008;

‘Abuse issues facing older persons’ Law Access, Parramatta, September, 2008.

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