Amelia Crotwell, Esq., CELA

Amelia Crotwell earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Tennessee in 1990, studying English and Creative Writing. After several years of environmental consulting, she obtained her Doctor of Jurisprudence, summa cum laude, from the University of Tennessee, College of Law in 1997. While in law school, she loved the Legal Clinic, where she first had the opportunity to represent real people with real problems. During her term in the Legal Clinic, she received a high award the Charles Henderson Miller Award of Excellence in Civil Advocacy. Upon graduation, she accepted an invitation to The Order of the Coif, an organization devoted to honoring academic and intellectual excellence. From 1997 until 1999, she served as Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Gary R. Wade, who is now a Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

In 1999, Amelia entered private practice with the firm of McDonald, Levy & Taylor in Farragut, Tennessee. She was invited to become a partner in the firm in 2004. Her early years in private practice encompassed traditional areas of law:   personal injury, motorcycle accident litigation, worker's compensation, family law, and other civil litigation. But it was elder law that she found most challenging and rewarding.

In 2010, Amelia launched her solo practice, Elder Law of East Tennessee, where she devotes all her expertise to helping elders and their families, and persons with disabilities, plan for their legal, financial, and health care needs. Her legal practice areas included elder law, estate planning, wills and trusts, conservatorship proceedings, special needs trusts, Medicaid planning and Veterans Benefits planning, Social Security Disability, and SSI planning.

Amelia is a Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) through  the National Elder Law Foundation and the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. She is a member of several esteemed professional organizations including the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, and the Tennessee and Knoxville Bar Associations. She is also accredited to practice before the Veterans Administration and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and she has completed extensive training required by the Tennessee Supreme Court to become a family mediator.

Amelia participates in a number of volunteer programs in the community. She assisted children of abuse and neglect as a board member and later President of CASA of East Tennessee (2002-2006). She has developed and currently administers a program for Ride For Life, a non-profit organization, to provide money grants covering legal services for persons who suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. She offers pro bono legal services through Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Inc. and through the Tennessee Family Justice Center. She serves on the University of Tennessee Legal Clinic Alumni Advisory Board.

Amelia takes a very active role in the community by speaking at seminars and to community groups about Life Care Planning and Elder Law issues. She has recently addressed the East Tennessee Health Care Social Workers about Health Care Reform and Ethical Issues at the End of Life. She taught a class on Veterans Benefits and Life Care Planning at the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) at Roane State Community College. She would love the opportunity to talk to your group at work, church or school.

To balance all this focus on work, Amelia enjoys lots of outdoor activities, like kayaking, bicycling, and hiking. She is a yoga enthusiast with a dedicated practice, and she loves to cook, eat, and travel abroad. You can see her walking her loyal companion Little Brown Jug ("Bug") around her neighborhood. Bug is a beagle mix that Amelia rescued from the woods on a cold, snowy day. Bug sometimes likes to hang around the law office and get a scratch on the head from Amelia's clients.