2010 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

LAWRENCE E. DAVIDOW, ESQ.

Managing Partner, Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern, LLP

When Lawrence Davidow attended Tulane University School of Law, he took every tax class possible. When he began to practice law in the 1980s, he wanted to talk to clients about taxes and estate planning, but he says, “They were asking me, what happens if I get sick and I lose my house to a nursing home? What about Medicaid?” He adds, “I didn’t know anything about that…nobody did.”

Davidow spent seven years in New Orleans, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane University School of Arts and Sciences and pursuing his law degree, but notes, “I always knew I was coming home; always knew I was going to be part of the family firm.” His grandfather founded a general practice law firm in 1913, and his father and uncle ran the company for 30 years before Davidow joined in 1986. By 1992, Davidow redirected the firm, Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern, located in Islandia, into one of the first and most successful Elder Law, Special Needs, Estate and Business Planning practices on Long Island.

“I had a passion for elder law; I love working with seniors and their families,” remarks Davidow, who traces this passion to his first job as a senior in high school. He worked as a recreational director in an adult home in his home community of Patchogue. “I worked every day, talking to the seniors and playing games with them, taking them for car rides and facilitating discussion groups.”

With these fond memories, Davidow started growing the firm, taking ads, marketing and hosting seminars. “Nobody knew what I was talking about,” he says. “When I showed up to speak, people were expecting someone with gray hair, not a kid in his twenties. But the subject was new, people were interested, and our firm started giving the answers.”

Davidow quickly immersed himself in the Long Island “senior” arena. He served as the founding president of the Suffolk Chapter of the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, and partnered with the not-for-profit communities to spread the word about elder law. He joined the Alzheimer’s Association, served on its board, and was chair of the Legal Advisory Committee.

“Alzheimer’s affects so many families and is so devastating to families caring for persons with Alzheimer’s,” says Davidow. “It’s worth spending time with these families and raising money to get rid of this horrible disease.”

The term “elder law” was coined in the 1980s when the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys was founded by 36 attorneys around the country. Davidow was one of the first hundred members—membership now numbers about 5,000—and served as president three years ago. Elder law deals with issues of incapacity, managing assets, a person’s health condition, affordable health care, getting the best health care, deciding who takes care of the older person and where—all without losing a home that the person worked a lifetime to acquire. About half Davidow’s practice prepares people for long-term care and half deals with people in crisis in long-term care. “It’s complicated,” he says, pointing out that the Medicaid laws keep changing. “The state says one thing; the County says another. The federal government says something else. There’s no coordination between Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. There’s not one set of laws; they’re all over the place.”

Davidow built his career and practice on his two passions: elder law and public speaking. His involvement on the national level sparked his awareness of the public’s need for Elder Law education. Now a dedicated and accomplished speaker, he says, “I try to make my presentations enjoyable and entertaining. I have lectured free of charge to senior groups, homemaker clubs, churches, temples, bar associations, accounting groups, financial planners, social workers, doctors, service clubs like Kiwanis and Rotary, unions, retired teachers, and corporation employees.”

“Elder law will probably become one of the general practice areas of the new millennium; no family is immune,” remarks Davidow. “Every family wants the best healthcare for their elders and wants to protect the assets.” He continues to speak locally and nationally informing seniors, individuals with disabilities and their families about their rights. In addition to serving on the National Academy board of directors, Davidow is a National Elder Law Foundation Certified Elder Law Attorney.

A full-time practicing lawyer, Davidow has served as past chairman of the Suffolk County Bar Association Elder Law Committee, past president of the Suffolk County Estate Planning Council, and board member of the Maryhaven Center of Hope, helping people with disabilities, youth through adults. He is also a past newsletter editor and officer of the New York State Bar Association, Elder Law Section.

Davidow says there are two nonprofits that he has “clung to over the years,” the Alzheimer’s Association and the Long Island Community Foundation, of which he currently serves as Board Chairman. He is proud of the LICF’s initiatives, including LEAP—Leadership, Effectiveness, Action and Partnership, launched as a pivotal point in the evolution of communities that have not shared Long Island’s overall prosperity—Erase Racism, Sustainable Long Island, the environment and the arts. He adds that LICF provides leadership for the philanthropic community and is “a great resource for philanthropists and grantees to help spearhead the answers to some of the Island’s problems.” He applauds its capacity to build nonprofits—all of which have “a large, long-acting impact on Long Island.” He adds, “We’re trying to be a community-wide community foundation. We help the whole community, the neediest to all of us.”

A published author on the subject of Elder Law, Davidow contributed a chapter, called “Tax Implications of Transfers of Assets,” to the Elder Law Portfolio Series (Little Brown). He also contributed to the handbook “Essential Facts, Estate Planning and Family Wealth Transfers.” He supplied various outlines for national Elder Law symposia and wrote a column for the New York Law Journal.

A native of Patchogue-Bellport, Davidow has more recently been raising his three children, Nicholas (15), Ryan (14) and Rebecca (12), in communities from Setauket to Mt. Sinai, and is engaged to Sharon Scott. An avid Yankee fan, this “Long Island guy” enjoys the beaches, theater, reading and traveling. Davidow remarks, “I’m lucky to have found an area of law that is very gratifying. I feel privileged to know that I really love what I do.”

NETWORKING® January 2010