A Tribute to Anthony H. Szczygiel

I first met Tony Szczygiel in 1981, when he was interviewing for a position on our faculty. Tony impressed me immediately. He was keenly intelligent, with a demonstrated commitment to working with underserved communities, having spent five years working for Farmworker’s Legal Services.

Tony is the exemplar for the effective community engagement a thoughtful, sophisticated, and empathetic clinical teacher can provide. During his 34 years at UB, he developed a sophisticated educational program that profoundly impacted provision of legal services to an ever growing and often financially challenged elderly population.

Tony’s program is centered in his masterful clinical teaching. Over the years, scores of law students have worked with Tony, representing the elderly poor. Under his supportive supervision, students perfect interviewing skills necessary to elicit legally significant facts from often-confused individuals, as well as the subtle art of actually listening to perspective clients. In his teaching, Tony listens closely, without interruption, and thinks before replying. This trait, which operates so effectively in the classroom, is imparted to his students by example. In a profession that seems sometimes to validate the caricature of windy, blow hard lawyers, this is a valued skill.

In addition, Tony teaches his students effectively to counsel the elderly. His clinic handles complicated, and often-intertwined, questions, including: Medicaid eligibility; Medicare Parts A, B, C, and D; VA insurance benefits; private insurance impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; long term health insurance; home nursing care; nursing home finance; and eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income. Tony has effectively balanced demands for repetitive, though highly desired, individual representation against broadly based, impact litigation that may prove life changing for many. Tony’s students have appeared in hundreds of fair hearings and administrative tribunals on behalf of individual clients, while also successfully pursuing complex litigation. This balance has been a hallmark of his clinical teaching.

Tony’s impact litigation provides unmatched educational experience. The seemingly never-ending case of Conrad v. Perales, which lasted an astonishing and depressing 21-years, is an excellent example of his complex litigation, not to mention his inexhaustible patience. This class action alleged that 16,000 nursing home residents were cheated out of insurance co-payments, deductibles and other costs when New York State charged them twice for the same services. Plaintiffs ultimately received an $11 million settlement; however, sadly, most of his frail clients died during the lengthy proceedings, and the settlement ultimately was distributed to their heirs, a cogent lesson for his students on the limits of such lawsuits. Not insignificantly for the future of his clinic, $2.3 million in attorney fees was awarded.

Tony’s civic engagement has not been limited to the classroom and courtroom. He has been instrumental in organizing and continuing the education of an ever-increasing “elder law” specialty. For example, he founded the Coalition of Medicaid Advocates, affectionately known as COMA, prepared and distributed voluminous materials discussing recent statutory and case law, and participated on panels too numerous to recount.

In addition, Tony has worked tirelessly on behalf of Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled, and Disadvantaged. His students assist in intake at their office, and he has co-counseled with their attorneys, sharing fee awards with the financially challenged program.

In short, Tony has worked successfully to improve the quality of advocacy available to the elderly. This is precisely the activity UB 20/20 envisioned in its strategic strength of Civic Engagement and Public Policy, the lynchpin of any great state university.

Finally, I acknowledge Tony’s compassion and willingness to assist colleagues concerning matters such as home health services and insurance coverage of nursing and hospice care during family crises. I will never forget his empathetic and wise counsel during my father’s terminal illness. I am privileged to call Tony a friend. When he reflects on his contributions during his retirement, he will indeed have a great deal to be proud of.