Health Law Certificate

The remarkable growth and transformation of the healthcare industry translates into a growing number of jobs for lawyers.

At the same time, meeting the challenge of educating today's practice-ready health lawyers is a new and unique enterprise. Navigating complex health law issues increasingly requires a sophisticated understanding of the confluence of science, technology and social science, something not usually taught in a more traditional, finite health law program.

Concurrently, public and private sector employers are moving away from a focus on what new health lawyers know, and instead toward what new health lawyers can do with what they know. Reflecting this focus, many employers are requiring one to two years of experience as a hiring prerequisite.

Recognizing these new dynamics, UA's Health Law Certificate Program takes a 'boots on the ground' approach, providing skills training and externships to meet the one to two year experience prerequisite to employment. This skills training and externship experience will allow graduates to hit the ground running in their first years of practice in multiple areas, such as regulatory compliance and risk management, while encouraging continuous reflection on the relationship between law, science and technology.

The Health Law Certificate for JD students

To complete the certificate, students must take a semester-long externship and four health law courses from a variety of class offerings including:

• Health Law
• Health Care Organization and Finance
• Bioethics
• Government Provision of Healthcare
• Insurance Law
• Food and Drug Law
• Civil Rights and Barriers to Access
• Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Laws

Advisors of Certificate Program

Ashley Keith, Assistant Professor of Law | Bio
Ashley Keith joined the Akron Law faculty as a full-time visiting assistant professor of law in 2023. She was previously a staff attorney and assistant general counsel at University Hospitals (UH) Health System of Cleveland. Earlier, she worked within the health care field as a practice manager at UH’s South Suburban Women’s Center. Her past experiences also include employment as a tax law specialist at the Internal Revenue Service; a general partner at Keith, Washington & Marshall, LLC, in Cleveland; and a mortgage loan originator at Quicken Loans and BBMC Mortgage in Cleveland.
Prior to receiving her Juris Doctor from Akron Law, Keith earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and German from Illinois Wesleyan University. A native of Detroit, she has remained in Northeast Ohio since her time at Akron Law.

Christopher V. Goff, JD, MA | Bio | Secondary Advisor
In his role as CEO and General Counsel of Employers Health, Chris works with the Board of Directors to chart the organization’s overall strategy. Chris also currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of the Affordable Care Act, is an advisor to many pharmaceutical manufacturers and has served on editorial boards related to pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Daniel K. Glessner | Bio | Secondary Advisor
Dan is a shareholder of Roetzel & Andress and manager of their corporate, tax & transactional practice group.

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