When Jean Krebs JD ’20, MPH ’20 came to Hofstra Law, she knew that she wanted to pursue health care law. “Hofstra was the first school that when I said I was interested in becoming a health care attorney, instead of questioning it, they asked, ‘How can we help you make that happen?’ I knew right then and there that Hofstra was the perfect fit for me.”
“I love connecting with fellows, getting a sense of how school is going, and listening to their career goals. So many people at Hofstra and Gitenstein did that for me and I want to pay it forward in any way that I can.”
“When I started at Hofstra Law, not many other students knew about or were interested in health care law,” Jean says. “Now, it feels like interest in it has exploded – I’ve met so many students who, like me, decided to come to Hofstra Law for its health law offerings.”
Hofstra Law has received an “A” rating for its Health Law offerings from preLaw magazine. The Law School is one of only 30 law schools that received an “A” or an “A+” rating for Health Law. “Hofstra’s health law program is a hidden gem within the Law School. It is great to look back and see how far it’s come in only a few years,” she says.
While at Hofstra Law, Jean was one of the first students in the joint-degree JD/Master of Public Health program, participated in the Hofstra|Northwell Health Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) program, and was a Fellow with the Gitenstein Institute for Health Law & Policy. “The Gitenstein Institute allowed me to be involved in the MLP from its inception,” she says. “Before I was a student in the MLP courses, as a Gitenstein Fellow, I assisted with developing the categories of legal services that the MLP could offer, considering areas of law that intersect with health.” This eventually became the MLP’s “I-HELP” framework, which stands for Income, Housing, Employment, Legal Status, and Personal/Family.
One of the things that differentiates the MLP from other clinics at the Law School is “the ability to not just work with other attorneys, but also with doctors, nurses, patient navigators, and social workers,” Jean says.” “The MLP is also unique in that students are exposed to and able to work on cases involving many different areas of the law, where other clinics typically focus on one practice area. Being able to work with different clients and in different areas of the law was very beneficial to me as I began my career.”
Since graduation, Jean has continued her involvement with the Gitenstein Institute and is now a Senior Fellow, overseeing the work of student fellows at the Law School. As a Senior Fellow, she oversees the Legal Mapping Project, which is a database of advanced care planning legislation throughout the US. Those working on the Legal Mapping Project ensure that all legislative history is accurate, update the map to reflect any changes in the law, and track proposed legislation that would add, amend, or repeal existing advance care planning laws.
As a student fellow, Jean also helped relaunch the Institute’s Bioethics Blog. She continues to assist with the blog and the fellows that now work on it. “The blog was excellent practice in taking comprehensive laws and information and boiling it down to something concise that anyone could understand. I see the value now of having that experience every time I write a Client Alert for my firm.” Jean meets remotely with current fellows to connect on Gitenstein projects but also to check in on them. “I love connecting with fellows, getting a sense of how school is going, and listening to their career goals. So many people at Hofstra and Gitenstein did that for me and I want to pay it forward in any way that I can.”
In addition to working as a Senior Fellow, Jean is also a first-year Associate at Garfunkel Wild, P.C., which specializes in serving the health care industry. She is a member of the Litigation & Arbitration and Cannabis Practice Groups, but she has also worked with several different practice groups during her time at the firm, including the firm’s Labor & Employment, Compliance & White Collar Defense, and Health Care Practice Groups . “I really enjoy the diversity of my work,” she says.” “I receive excellent mentorship and guidance at the firm every day.” Ms. Krebs has even co-authored an article with one of the partners at the firm, Salvatore Puccio, (also a Hofstra Law alum) that was published in Outpatient Surgery Magazine.
Though she graduated from Hofstra last year, Jean says that her education has only continued post-graduation. “My job often requires me to review and learn about newly proposed and enacted laws and regulations, which this past year alone has included COVID-19 statutes and regulations, recreational cannabis legislation, and Governor Cuomo’s nursing home reform, to name a few.” she says. “It has been really interesting to see how laws impact the health care industry so differently from other employers or businesses. I love being able to communicate with and advise our health care clients, who have given us so much this past year, and help make their days a little easier, whether it be through sharing a Client Alert, drafting a handbook or policy, or having a conversation about navigating the law.
The post Jean Krebs ’20 Discusses How the Gitenstein Institute and the MLP Program Prepared Her for a Career in Health Care Law appeared first on Hofstra Law News.