Carla Calogero was recently honored by a feature profile published in the King County Bar Association Bar Bulletin, the monthly publication of the King County Bar Association. Read the full article here: A Quiet Leader in Guardianship and Elder Law.
The following are excerpts from the article:
“Before becoming an attorney, Calogero was a high school biology, MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) and genetics teacher at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle. In teaching genetics, she became interested in bioethics and took a summer course in bioethics for high school teachers at the University of Washington. The next summer she became a co-instructor of the course. Through bioethics, Calogero became interested in the law, initially as the law intersected with bioethics. She decided to leave teaching and pursue her intellectual passions for bioethics and the law. Calogero earned a master’s degree in bioethics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Medical History and Ethics…
Calogero entered Seattle University School of Law in 2006, believing that after law school she would go into health care policy work. Calogero attributes her early law school pivot to elder law and estate planning to her “incredible fortune” in meeting and being mentored by Professor Lisa Brodoff, now Professor Emerita at Seattle University School of Law: “The effect of Lisa’s mentorship on me has been profound.”
“Calogero was a first-year law student working part time in our legal clinic,” Brodoff said. “I asked her to copy several articles on end-of-life issues and advance health care directives for people with Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t just copy them, she read them, came to my office, and asked if she could help. Once I understood her background in bioethics, I invited her to join me as a legal research assistant, a position she held throughout law school.”
Calogero explained that she is grateful to Brodoff for opening her eyes to the practice of elder and disability law and estate planning that enabled her to see how her bioethics background could serve older adults and their families. In addition, Calogero realized that while she had no doubts about her mid-career change in profession, she did miss the personal relationships she had with her students.
This realization, and Brodoff’s scholarship and influence, helped Calogero realize that she was meant to be a client-seeing attorney in private practice, rather than do health care policy work. Having then determined as a 1L that she would be an estate planning and elder law attorney, throughout law school she regularly attended King County Bar Association (KCBA) and Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) continuing legal education programs in elder law, estate planning and guardianship, including attending the KCBA Guardianship and Elder Law Section lunchtime CLEs. In this way she also began to meet and become familiar with her future peers and colleagues. “She was a creative partner in developing new ideas in medical ethics,” Brodoff said. “Working with her was one of the great pieces of luck in my career. Calogero is thoughtful, reflective, and genuinely enjoyable to work with.”
While in law school, Brodoff also introduced Calogero to Michael Longyear of the Reed Longyear law firm in Seattle. As a second- and third-year law student, Calogero interned at Reed Longyear. Calogero is now a named partner at Reed Longyear Corwin Burnett & Calogero, PLLC…”
