2024 Fellows in Health Law & Policy and Family Law & Policy Present Research
The wide-ranging findings of major Law School student research projects in health and family law and policy were presented to the Law School community, friends, and family members on April 19 by this year’s Health Law & Policy Fellows (under the direction of Professor Karen Porter, Associate Dean for Academic Success and Student Success, and Executive Director of the Center for Health, Science and Public Policy) and Marsha Garrison Family Law & Policy Fellows (under the direction of Professor Cynthia Godsoe).
The centerpiece of the year-long fellowships, these research projects focus on a legal or policy issue in their respective fields and are conducted under the mentorship of faculty members or professionals. This year that included Anita and Stuart Subotnick Professor of Law Anita Bernstein; 1901 Distinguished Research Professor of Law Marsha Garrison; Associate Dean of Experiential Education Susan Hazeldean; Professor Sarah Lorr; Professor Prianka Nair, director of the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic; Visiting Professor Saskia Valencia; and former Brooklyn Law professor Frank Pasquale, who currently teaches at Cornell Law School.
Dean Porter extended a warm welcome to the attendees and congratulated the 14 fellows. “This is a day of celebration for all of us,” Porter said. “We have the most wonderful students who have worked so hard on these high-level independent projects. It is a unique experience in law school and adds tremendous value to their law school experience and to their future, giving them an opportunity to go out in the world and talk about a project that they’ve been committed to and that they’ve worked hard to bring to fruition.”
Health Law & Policy Fellows
Sabrina Bernstein ’24, who has served as a legal intern with the Law School’s Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, investigated the need and proposed essential components for more comprehensive physician training on intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in order to treat individuals with I/DD with equal and unbiased care.
Sloane Forbush ’24, presented research exploring paths toward creating an equitable, comprehensive, and intersectional gun safety policy and its power to create a cultural shift. Her research has been informed by her engagement with the gun violence prevention community, including the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention and the 2024 Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Summit. Upon graduation, she will be joining Goodwin Procter as a litigation associate. She has been articles editor for the Brooklyn Law Review, interned with the LGBTQ Advocacy Clinic, and is a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Honors Society and past community development chair for the Brooklyn Law School Students for the Public Interest (BLSPI).
Megan Henley ’24, who is co-chair and treasurer of BLS OUTLaws and a founding member of the Indigenous Rights Advocacy Project, will be working in estate planning and administration post-graduation. Her research argues in favor of amending New York’s Executive Law 135-c to include remote ink notarization, which would grant those with disabilities and in hospice more autonomy and comfort as equal participants in legal processes.
Syed Zulqarnain Hussaini ’24 has been involved in the Law School’s Health Law Externship Clinic and as a legal intern at Hercules Pharmaceuticals and the New York Legal Assistance Group, among others. His research considers the positive and negative impacts of the market shift toward consolidation of the health care industry and its effects on the costs and quality of patient care.
Elisabeth Mayer ’24 has been active in the Law School’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Honor Society; If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice; and the Health Law and Policy Association, a participant in the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic, and an Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellow. Her research explores measures of improving equitable access to organ transplants for people with I/DD, who have historically been deprioritized as transplant candidates.
David Noh ’24 has been a judicial extern to the Hon. Gregory H. Woods, district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and a legal intern for the New York County Supreme Court Mediation Program, among others. He has also been a delegate to the Law School’s Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and Legal Hackers. His research explores the positive and negative impacts of increased private equity investments in medical care, considering cost, access, and quality of care.
Imad Rafi ’24 has been active in the Law School’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Honor Society, Muslim Students Association, Brooklyn Advocates for Judicial Reform, and South Asian Law Students Association, and has interned for Saint Peter’s Health Partners, a hospital system in Albany, N.Y., and VNS Health, a nonprofit organization providing community-based health services and programs. His research project examines proposed reforms of the audit practices of the New York State Office of Medicaid Inspector General and the potential implications of those reforms for New York’s health care system. Rafi will be joining the New York State Bar Association’s task force on OMIG reform.
Camille Tucker ’24 is a former science teacher for grades 3 through 8, who worked full-time during her first two years of law school. She was a judicial extern for the Hon. Matthew D’Emic, of the New York State Supreme Court, presiding judge of the Brooklyn Mental Health Court and Brooklyn Domestic Violence Court. She focused her research on increasing awareness of psychiatric advance directives (PADs), which allow individuals with an episodic mental illness to state who they would like to make health care decisions for them and what forms of care they consent to before they experience a crisis. As part of her project, she aimed to design a PAD Facilitation Program for participants of the Brooklyn Mental Health Court and designed an empirical study to determine the impact of PADs on patient satisfaction and identify gaps in their use.
Anish Vaidya ’25 has an academic and professional background in biology and aspires in his career to navigate the intersection of law and the life sciences. Active in BLS’ Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law, Alternate Dispute Resolution Honor Society, South Asian Law Students Association, and Legal Hackers, he has been a judicial intern at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. His research delves into the need for legal regulation that balances the benefits and risks of natural psychoactive substances kava and kratom, as they gain popularity.
Family Law & Policy Fellows
Jessie Duggan ’25 is pursuing a career in matrimonial and family law. She is currently interning for the Hon. Ariel D. Chesler at the Supreme Court, New York County; is a student advocate for Sanctuary for Families; and this summer will be interning at Manhattan family law firm Rabin Schumann and Partners LLP. She is a member of the Family Law and Policy Association, When/If/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Rights, Jewish Law Students Association, and the Legal Association for Women. Her research examines mediation and litigation as methods for resolving domestic relations disputes, assessing their respective advantages and drawbacks while considering their accessibility.
Jessica Flaherty ’24 will serve as a public defender at The Legal Aid Society following graduation. She has been a clinic intern at the Family Defense Practice of Brooklyn Defenders, and while at Brooklyn Law was the co-founder and co-president of BLS Students for Ending the Prison Industrial Complex, co-chair of the Parole Advocacy Project, and pro bono chair of Brooklyn Law Students for Public Interest. Her research focuses on child support enforcement in the criminal legal system, and the ways in which merging the two is dangerous for American families. She advocates for alternative approaches grounded in social support and family-centered policies.
Yumi Higashi ’25, a former corporate communications director and current legal assistant in the trust and estate group of Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, plans to practice in estate planning and administration upon graduation. She is a staff writer and executive article editor for the Brooklyn Journal of International Law and is active in the HELP Elder Law clinic. Her research addresses the challenges inherent to guardianship of children, especially for immigrant parents without other family members in the U.S. Higashi calls for greater access by families to standby guardianship as a means of greater autonomy and a smooth transition of childcare without intermission.
Jessica H. Ramsawak ’24 is a judicial intern with the Hon. Consuelo Mallafré Meléndez in Kings County Supreme Court. At Brooklyn Law, she is president of the South Asian Law Students Association and has conducted a policy project with the Disability and Civil Rights Clinic. After graduation, she will be joining Martin Clearwater & Bell as an associate attorney in the field of medical malpractice. In her research project, she investigates how informed doula services can serve as a “reasonable accommodation” for parents with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This would, she argues, foster more equitable pregnancy and parenthood experiences.
Eva van Ophem ’25 is treasurer of Brooklyn Law’s Family Law and Policy Association, fellowship chair of Brooklyn Law Students for the Public Interest, is on the staff of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law, and is a former intern at the Legal Aid Society and Covenant House. Her research project analyzes the New York State law (Bill S2475A) that implements easing minors’ access to gender-affirming care (GAC) and counteracts the hard-edged bans from other states. She explores the issue of children’s rights, and an alternate solution that would allow “mature minors” to make medical decisions for themselves regarding hormone therapy and care, while also addressing the risks of that therapy and the ramifications of lowering the age of consent for medical care.
Professor Godsoe offered closing remarks at the event, applauding the fellows for their scholarship and their great sense of community. “We feel so lucky to have worked with these amazing fellows,” she said. “Congratulations to all of you!”
See abstracts from Health Law & Policy Fellows here.
See abstracts from Marsha Garrison Family Law & Policy Fellows here.