Jim Schuster has been licensed as an attorney since 1978 and has focused his practice in Elder Law since 1995. He is:

◆ A 29 year member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)

◆ Former Chair of the Elder Law and Advocacy Section of the Michigan State Bar and current section member;

◆ Has been a Certified Elder Law Attorneys since 2004. The certification is made by the, A.B.A. accredited National Elder Law Foundation

◆ A member of the American Bar Association;

Prior to attending law school Jim Schuster was a social worker for the Department of Social Services (now Department of Health and Human Services). After he passed the bar he worked as a law clerk for United States District Judge Noel P. Fox and as a Judge for the Chippewa Ottawa Conservation Court. He served on the Council of the General Practice Section of the State Bar of Michigan from 1985 to 1997 in all capacities including as Chair of the Section in 1991.

Jim has been a member of the State Bar Elder Law and Advocacy Section since 1996 and served on the Section Council in all capacities, finally being Chair of the Section in 2003 – 2004.

Jim has had articles on Elder Law published in the Michigan Bar Journal, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, the Detroit Legal News and Laches, the publication of the Oakland County Bar Association and most recently in the NAELA News and NAELA Journal. His 2023 article Medicaid Estate Recovery: A Failed Program Based on an Invalid 19th Century Philosophy Is Harming Our Ability to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century won the coveted John J. Regan Writing Award for the best article published in NAELA Journal during the previous year.

Jim is now retired from the active practice of elder law and spends his time writing articles on topics in the field, mostly concentrating on Medicaid benefits