It was around 1991, when Shirley Berger Whitenack was asked by the firm where she worked if she’d like to get involved in elder law. It was an emerging practice area at the time, and Whitenack, an estates and trusts litigator, decided to give it a try.

It was a decision that would alter her career and the lives of her clients, and lead to changes in New Jersey’s guardianship law.