Guardianship News:

Advisory Board

2020-2021 Advisory Board

Sandra Kewitz, J.D.

Sandra graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1999 with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree.  Initially she worked as the Director of Elder Abuse Prevention for Contra Costa Legal Services where she was able to process protective orders for vulnerable seniors, provide community outreach and advocacy, and work with other entities to educate and assist low income seniors in preventing and stopping elder abuse.

Eventually she worked in the Corporate Law Department of State Farm Insurance and also doing insurance defense work for Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker.

In 2015 her father, Dr. Dale Howard Kewitz, Sr., was railroaded through incompetency proceedings without legal notice having been provided to the family in Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida.

Sandra graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1999 with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree.  Initially she worked as the Director of Elder Abuse Prevention for Contra Costa Legal Services where she was able to process protective orders for vulnerable seniors, provide community outreach and advocacy, and work with other entities to educate and assist low income seniors in preventing and stopping elder abuse.

Eventually she worked in the Corporate Law Department of State Farm Insurance and also doing insurance defense work for Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker.

In 2015 her father, Dr. Dale Howard Kewitz, Sr., was railroaded through incompetency proceedings without legal notice having been provided to the family in Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida.

Rana Goodman  served 6 years on the City of Henderson’s Senior Citizen’s Advisory Commission and 5 years as president of the Whitney Ranch Homeowner Association. In her role as the political editor of The Vegas Voice, Rana exposed the guardianship scandal in Clark County and was appointed in 2016 to the Nevada Supreme Court Statewide Guardianship Commission to study and recommend guardianship reform in the State. She is also the president of the newly formed nonprofit Nevada Association to Stop Guardian & Elder Abuse to assist seniors from this guardianship travesty. For her efforts, Rana was recently named “Nevada Senior Citizen of the year 2016” by the Nevada Delegation of the National Silver Haired Congress in partnership with the Nevada Aging Services Directors Organization and was awarded 2017 the Freedom of the Press Award by the Nevada Press Association for her coverage of the guardianship series.

Eileen Leslie, CPA, CFE, MTx, is the founder of Investigative CPA, LLC where she specializes in the areas of investigative financial consulting, fraud examination and False Claims Act (FCA) investigation. Ms. Leslie has extensive experience performing white-collar crime and civil investigations for the government and in public accounting practice. During her years in practice, she has engaged in many forensic audits and financial investigations involving the violation of federal, state and local regulations and laws. Her investigative instincts and diverse accounting background position her to help clients detect and investigate a variety of fraud schemes and complex financial transactions affecting businesses, individuals and government entities. Ms. Leslie holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from St. Cloud State University and a Master of Taxation from the University of Denver. She has nearly two decades of both public and private accounting and investigation experience, including serving as a financial analyst in the U.S. Attorney’s Office and an intelligence analyst for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Michael A. Hackard, Esq. has practised law for over 40 years. His practice includes estate, trust, probate and elder financial abuse litigation. Michael regularly represents clients in California’s major urban areas including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Alameda counties. Michael is the author of The Wolf at the Door – a book written to assist those who fight elder financial abuse.

Michael is a native of Sacramento, California. Michael is committed to lifelong learning and this learning has included executive-level courses at Dartmouth University’s Tuck School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Columbia Business School and Northwest University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Michael is dedicated to his clients. His experience teaches him that litigation clients first seek counsel that will listen and be committed to them. This commitment included an understanding that the client’s personal and/or financial safety is often paramount coupled with the need for real-time efforts to prevent disputed matters from getting worse. Michael’s general philosophy includes dedication to clients, legal excellence, a serious commitment to professional ethics, the finest ongoing professional training, and unashamedly applying important beliefs, ethics and values. He is proud to lead legal teams that reflect these values.

Michael Hackard is a top rated “AV” for over 25 years (“AV Preeminent is a significant rating accomplishment-  a testament to the fact that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.”). Avvo also ranks him with their highest rating – “ 10.0 Rating – ‘Superb.’” Michael is also a “SuperLawyer” – an honor reserved for no more than five percent of attorneys in each state.

Lawrence T. Reid

“Tim” Reid is an electronics engineer, with a Bachelor of Science degree from Manhattan College in New York, a historian and a good government advocate

He has been recognized nationally for his work to help reform federal procurement practices and create worker protection legislation.

Among other awards, he has received the prestigious Cavallo Prize for Moral Courage.  Since 2014, he and his sister, Donna have devoted themselves to ending the epidemic of failures and abuses of probate guardianships in Florida.

Tim lives in Boca Raton, Florida

 

Lynn Sayler

A resident of Pinellas County, Lynn and husband Alan Sayler have been actively involved in the business community there and political activism.

Lynn has served in the Florida Long Term Ombudsman office.

She has been a vocal advocate for guardianship reform as a result of experiences in her mother’s guardianship.

Lynn and her husband Alan, also an Advocate, live in St. Petersburg, Florida