Steve Jankower has practiced law in Lafayette for over 26 years.  He is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana and the Louisiana State University Law School.  Steve is also the father of a special needs child and has focused much of his practice on the handling of estate planning issues involving families with disabled and special needs members.  Steve is a member of the Board of Directors of Families Helping Families of Acadiana, the Lafayette Association of Retarded Citizens, the Beaver Club of Lafayette and the newly formed Lafayette City-Parish President's Disability Awareness Committee.  Steve has written an article for the Lafayette Parish Bar Association Journal on the subject of estate planning for the disabled through use of special needs trusts and lectures regularly to various professional and civic groups on the subject of Medicaid planning.

 

Education:

·        Undergraduate education - University of Southwestern Louisiana (graduated with B.S.B.A., summa cum laude, 1978)

·        Legal education - Louisiana State University (graduated with J.D., 1982)

 

Work experience:

·        Law Clerk to Hon. Jerome E. Domengeaux, Chief Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Louisiana, 1982-83

·        Lafayette Parish Government – Assistant Parish Attorney – 1987-1996

·        Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, Assistant City-Parish Attorney, 1996-2002

·        Steven M. Jankower, Attorney and Counselor at Law – October, 2000 to the present

 

Organizations and board affiliations:

·        Louisiana State Bar Association – Member in good standing since 1982

·        U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

·        U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana

·        Lafayette Parish Bar Association

·        Lafayette Association for Retarded Citizens – Member of the Board of Directors since 2002 and current President

·        Families Helping Families of Acadiana – Member and past President of the Board of Directors

·        Volunteers of America – Member of Advisory Board

·        Down Syndrome Association of Acadiana – Member

·        Beaver Club of Lafayette – Member and Secretary of the Board of Directors

·        Lafayette City-Parish President's Disability Awareness Committee - past Board Member and Chairman

 

Publications:

·        "Estate Planning for the Disabled: An Overview of Special Needs Trusts" published in the Promulgator by the Lafayette Parish Bar Association

·        "Why Every Attorney Should Consider Medicaid Planning Issues When Settling Personal Injury Claims" published in The Louisiana State Bar Association Journal.