Profile / Carla Calogero: A Quiet Leader in Guardianship and Elder Law
By Mary Anne Vance
Known for her steady counsel and deep command of Washington’s guardianship, fiduciary, and elder law landscape, Carla Calogero is widely respected by peers for pairing technical excellence with genuine care for clients and colleagues.
Calogero’s practice includes advance care and estate planning, elder law, fiduciary representation, guardianships and conservatorships, as well as probates and trusts, including contested guardianship, probate and trust matters. She also regularly serves as court-appointed Title 11 and Title 4 Guardian ad Litem in probate, trust and civil litigation matters. In addition, she serves as a Special Representative in TEDRA matters and as court-appointed counsel for respondents in guardianship/conservatorship proceedings.
Attorney Adrienne McEntee, Of Counsel Attorney at Stokes Lawrence in Seattle, describes Calogero as “a hidden gem” in the profession—exceptionally knowledgeable, diligent, and masterful in her understanding of guardianship and elder law.
Since 2009, Calogero has been an unassuming leader in advance care planning, end-of-life issues, settlement and special needs trust administration, and the practical and legal complexities of guardianship/conservatorship and elder law.
Before becoming an attorney, Calogero was a high school biology, MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) and genetics teacher at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle. In teaching genetics, she became interested in bioethics and took a summer course in bioethics for high school teachers at the University of Washington. The next summer she became a co-instructor of the course. Through bioethics, Calogero became interested in the law, initially as the law intersected with bioethics. She decided to leave teaching and pursue her intellectual passions for bioethics and the law.
Calogero earned a master’s degree in bioethics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Department of Medical History and Ethics. While earning her master’s, she served as Assistant to the Director of the Biomedical Research Integrity Series, an ethics education program for National Institutes of Health trainees. In that role, she worked with the Director to write and develop a bioethics curriculum for medical students and faculty. She also frequently attended and developed two topical programs for the Harborview Medical Center Ethics Committee.
Calogero entered Seattle University School of Law in 2006, believing that after law school she would go into health care policy work. Calogero attributes her early law school pivot to elder law and estate planning to her “incredible fortune” in meeting and being mentored by Professor Lisa Brodoff, now Professor Emerita at Seattle University School of Law: “The effect of Lisa’s mentorship on me has been profound.”
“Calogero was a first-year law student working part time in our legal clinic,” Brodoff said. “I asked her to copy several articles on end-of-life issues and advance health care directives for people with Alzheimer’s disease. She didn’t just copy them, she read them, came to my office, and asked if she could help. Once I understood her background in bioethics, I invited her to join me as a legal research assistant, a position she held throughout law school.”
Calogero explained that she is grateful to Brodoff for opening her eyes to the practice of elder and disability law and estate planning that enabled her to see how her bioethics background could serve older adults and their families. In addition, Calogero realized that while she had no doubts about her mid-career change in profession, she did miss the personal relationships she had with her students.
This realization, and Brodoff’s scholarship and influence, helped Calogero realize that she was meant to be a client-seeing attorney in private practice, rather than do health care policy work. Having then determined as a 1L that she would be an estate planning and elder law attorney, throughout law school she regularly attended King County Bar Association (KCBA) and Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) continuing legal education programs in elder law, estate planning and guardianship, including attending the KCBA Guardianship and Elder Law Section lunchtime CLEs. In this way she also began to meet and become familiar with her future peers and colleagues.
“She was a creative partner in developing new ideas in medical ethics,” Brodoff said. “Working with her was one of the great pieces of luck in my career. Calogero is thoughtful, reflective, and genuinely enjoyable to work with.”
While in law school, Brodoff also introduced Calogero to Michael Longyear of the Reed Longyear law firm in Seattle. As a second- and third-year law student, Calogero interned at Reed Longyear. Calogero is now a named partner at Reed Longyear Corwin Burnett & Calogero, PLLC.
After graduating from law school in the fall of 2009 and passing the bar exam in February 2010, Calogero became an Associate Attorney at Aiken St. Louis & Siljeg, P.S. in Seattle, where she focused on estate planning, probate, trusts, guardianships, and elder law. In 2014, she returned to Reed Longyear as an Associate Attorney.
While at Aiken, St. Louis & Siljeg, P.S., Calogero worked closely with attorney Mark Vohr. In 2014, Vohr left private practice and became a Principal and In-house Counsel of Ohana Fiduciary Corporation, a Washington Chartered Trust Company and Certified Professional Guardianship Agency. In recent years, Vohr has continued to work with Calogero as an attorney for Ohana Fiduciary Corporation in their guardianship/conservatorship, trust and probate matters.
Vohr says: “Calogero cares deeply about her clients, and it shows in the details. She is professional, prepared, and steady. When she represents us, we know we’re in excellent hands. Her bioethics background—especially around end-of-life issues—has been invaluable. We value her insight and humility.”
He adds, “She’s also a pleasure to work with—and she brings a great sense of humor.”
Brodoff credits Calogero as a key voice in the Seattle and Washington elder law community. When Calogero served as the Chair of the Advance Care and Legal Planning Subcommittee of the Washington State Dementia Action Collaborative, the first person she asked to be on the Subcommittee was Brodoff. Calogero: “I was ecstatic that Lisa accepted the invitation, and for the opportunity to work with my mentor as peers.” Calogero and Brodoff have also worked together on community guidance programs addressing advance health care directives, end-of-life decision-making, and VSED protocols (VSED is the acronym for Voluntary Stopping Eating and Drinking, an end-of-life option to hasten one’s death).
Calogero has volunteered with a number of organizations, including the Seattle Community Law Center, Washington First Responders Wills Clinic, Victims of Crime Assistance, Senior Rights Assistance (Sound Generations). She has also worked with the Washington Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders, King County Superior Court Ex Parte and Probate Department Review Calendar and the King County Bar Association Elder Law Clinic. Calogero was on the Board of Directors of Sound Generations for two terms and remains an Emeritus Board Member. She has served on the Washington State POLST Task Force and was a Board Member of the American Parkinson Disease Association Northwest Chapter.
Since 2011, Calogero has held a leadership position on the King County Bar Association Guardianship and Elder Law Section Executive Committee, including as Chair (twice), Secretary, Treasurer, Legislative Co-Chair and Programs Co-Chair.
Calogero has also served on the Washington State Bar Association’s Elder Law Section Executive Committee since 2011. She has Co-Chaired the CLE Committee since 2024. Her prior positions on the Executive Committee include Chair, Communications Co-Chair, Secretary, and At-Large Member.
Colleagues who have served with Calogero on WSBA Elder Law Executive Committee describe her as consistently helpful, highly effective at moving work forward, and well respected.
Angela Macey-Cushman of Macey-Cushman & Reiley, PLLC (Edmonds) credits Calogero with producing practical, high-quality CLEs on elder law, guardianship, estate planning, special needs law, and trust & probate administration. “Calogero is an excellent teacher and is always willing to help other practitioners,” she says. “She approaches complex issues with intellectual rigor and asks the hard questions—including, ‘Is it constitutional?’ She does not push an agenda; she looks at the bigger picture. She’s been especially helpful for me on issues involving VSED.” Macey-Cushman continued, “She is willing to dig into the policy side of the health care statutes. Calogero is an important bridge between the health care community and the legal community.”
Macey-Cushman adds, “Calogero is a leader in our field, and I’m proud of the professionalism she brings to elder law.”
Miriam Ayoub, a partner at Graunke Ayoub Law (Seattle), first met Calogero through a 2011 WSBA Elder Law Section outreach program for attorneys interested in elder law. Ayoub says: “I have great respect for Calogero. She’s a connector in the elder law and guardianship community, and we’ve worked on many matters together. I Co-Chair the WSBA Elder Law CLE group with her. Calogero has an incredible work ethic, and I’m grateful to work alongside her.” Michelle Graunke, also a partner at Graunke Ayoub Law, agrees that Calogero has been a leader in the fields of guardianship and elder law.
Adrienne McEntee recalls how Calogero helped colleagues navigate significant changes to Washington’s guardianship statutes when they were significantly revised several years ago. “I was blown away by how knowledgeable Calogero was—and by the time she took to really study a difficult and new statute,” McEntee says. “She made the changes easier for the rest of us to understand. Her years as a teacher have clearly shaped how effectively she shares information with her peers.”
Calogero’s family history has shaped her professional perspective. Calogero, who is an only child, was born to her mother when she was just 17 years old. Raised in Austin, Texas, by her mother, with the dedicated participation of her grandmother and maternal aunts, Calogero learned that strong women “get the job done.” Calogero credits these women with teaching her resilience and humor.
She was deeply affected when she lost her grandmother at the age of 52, when Calogero was a teenager. Her grandmother suffered a brainstem aneurysm and was kept on life support for months, despite Calogero’s mother and aunts’ desire to allow her to be removed from life support and die a natural death. Calogero believes this experience later informed her interest in bioethics and advance care planning. In addition, Calogero’s mother and her former stepfather, with whom she remains close, held careers as a trauma emergency room (ER) nurse and ER physician, respectively. When Calogero moved from Austin to attend the University of Washington as an undergraduate, she and her mother packed up their Isuzu Trooper, including dog Pepper and cat Mouth, for the cross-country trip to Seattle.
Another early influence was Calogero’s involvement with Seattle Shanti in the early 1990s, a nonprofit organization that provided one-on-one emotional support to people living with AIDS. Calogero explained that a Shanti volunteer was matched with only one client at a time. Volunteers were required to attend regular meetings in small groups, where they supported one another and confidentially processed their work with clients. Calogero worked with a sequence of five clients, all of whom died while Calogero was their Shanti volunteer. She also served on the organization’s Board of Directors while a Shanti volunteer. Calogero credits Shanti’s volunteer training and small-group support in developing the skill of active listening without judgment and without steering the conversation. She explained that she regularly exercises this skill in her legal practice.
Calogero also values her years in the classroom as benefiting her as an attorney. Calogero spoke specifically about the interdisciplinary sophomore curriculum structure she had the opportunity to be a part of. The program brought together biology, history, and language arts teachers who collaborated closely to co-develop and co-teach a year-long curriculum across the three disciplines. Calogero sees the model of interdisciplinary collaboration as a common component of her elder law practice, which often includes other family members, care managers, health care providers, financial advisors, and others who may make up the elder’s team of support along the aging trajectory.
“I have a strong sense of responsibility for my work,” Calogero says. “It’s a privilege to be trusted by a client at a moment of real need. Clients invite us into their lives. I learn something from every client, each life, and I try to remain open, both to new issues and to what people are experiencing. My legal practice is rich. I have the honor of being trusted by clients to assist and support them in times of change, death or disability, while at the same time regularly encountering novel and complex legal issues. I continue to learn and be challenged, intellectually and emotionally. I understand that my work carries real responsibility, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Through her bar association leadership, collegiality within the legal community, and day-to-day law practice, Calogero strengthens the estate planning, elder law, guardianship and conservatorship, and trust legal community—helping colleagues do better work and helping individuals and families navigate difficult moments with clarity and care.
Mary Anne Vance is Senior Counsel at Reed Longyear Corwin Burnett and Calogero. She is honored to work in Estate Planning and Trusts with Carla. She is grateful to KCBA for its support and guidance.
