Southern law professor raises eyebrows by naming herself attorney in at least 11 wills

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At least 11 wills that Southern University Law professor Dorothy Jackson drafted between 2013 and 2016 included a phrase in which she named herself as the attorney for the will's executor and the estate that a person was leaving behind, according to a report recently released by the university.

But that sort of language in a will is neither necessary, nor is it customary, according to LSU law professor Elizabeth Carter who specializes in successions, which is the process of settling a deceased person's estate and distributing the property after the bills are paid.

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One of the wills in which Jackson named herself as attorney for the executor and estate was that of Helen Plummer, a will that has been cloaked in controversy in Baton Rouge.

The will for Plummer, who died in March, specified that Council on Aging CEO Tasha Clark-Amar was to pay herself $500 a month over 20 years to be the executor and trustee of Plummer's estate. Jackson, a Council on Aging board member and the head of Southern's Elder Law Clinic, wrote the will in 2016.

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Jackson has been placed on administrative leave from Southern while the university's law center investigates her role in drafting the will. The Advocate and WBRZ sued Southern after the university refused to release an initial investigation into Jackson, and won the lawsuit and received the documents Aug. 28.

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The dossier includes a letter from Virginia Listach, director of Clinical Legal Education, to Alfreda Diamond, vice chancellor of Institutional Development. Listach writes in the May 2 letter that 50 wills were drafted and the files on them were closed through the Elder Law Clinic between 2013 and 2016.

Of the 50 wills, 17 of them had not been placed in storage. When Listach reviewed those, she found that 11 of them appointed Jackson as their attorney. Only one of them — Plummer's — has been probated as a private case.

"When an attorney who prepares a will includes a provision designating himself as attorney for the estate after the client’s death, a number of challenging ethical and moral issues can arise — but the practice is not generally prohibited by the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct," Carter said. "These designations are quite uncommon in wills prepared by reputable lawyers who routinely practice in this field.

"Personally, I do not believe an attorney should ever include this type of provision unless the client specifically asks for it," Carter said.

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