Before entering into private practice and her work with the Center, Ali Bers was a staff attorney for seven years at the Springfield office of Western Massachusetts Legal Services (now Community Legal Aid). She handled public benefits cases and represented Medicare beneficiaries as part of the Massachusetts Medicare Advocacy Project. She helped clients gain Medicare coverage for services such as home health care, nursing facility care, and prescription drugs, preventing clients from having to bear the full cost of these services or simply go without care. Ms. Bers has worked closely with community and social service agencies, such as Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders (SHINE) and local Councils on Aging. She conducts education and training presentations on Medicare and elder law issues for community groups and agencies. Ms. Bers has represented clients in administrative hearings and litigated cases in state and federal court. Before joining Legal Services she was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert N. Chatigny of the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. She is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, and serves on the Board of Directors of Square One, a non-profit provider of early education and child care for families in the Springfield, Massachusetts area. She graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where she was an articles editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.