Alison Hirschel is Senior Legal Counsel for the Michigan Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. She has served as Counsel to the state's ombudsman program since 2004 and previously served as counsel to a local ombudsman program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For 15 years, Alison coordinated and served as legal counsel to the Michigan Campaign for Quality Care, a grassroots advocacy group for long term care consumers. She also is the past president and serves on the Board of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care where she her current role is Vice-President. In addition to her work with the ombudsman program, Alison is the Director and Managing Attorney of the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and the elder law attorney at the Michigan Poverty Law Program. Since 1998, she has taught elder law at the University of Michigan Law School where she also serves as a Public Interest/Public Service Fellow. Previously, Alison taught on the adjunct faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Alison is the co-chair of the Medical Care Advisory Council and was appointed by the Attorney General to serve on the Elder Abuse Task Force. Previously, she was a Commissioner on the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging and served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.
Alison received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from Yale Law School. Alison was selected by Yale Law School as the first Arthur Liman Fellow. In 2003, Alison received the National Aging and Law Award and in 2010, she received the Toby Edelman Legal Justice Award for her work on behalf of long term care consumers.
