Dr. Laura Hoffman joins the Cleveland State University College of Law faculty this Fall on a permanent basis as an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy. She has spent the past two years teaching at CSU|LAW as a Visiting Professor.
“Northeast Ohio is home to me. I was born and raised here,” said Professor Hoffman. “I take so much pride in being a native and having this incredible opportunity at CSU College of Law to make a difference and do what I love every day. As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, ‘There's no place like home!’ and I'm honored CSU|LAW is a part of that for me now professionally in a permanent way.”
Prior to her time with CSU|LAW, Professor Hoffman served as a Senior Research Fellow with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School where she contributed to the development of projects and events involving palliative care policy, Elder Law, brain injury, and Disability Law. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Law/Faculty Researcher for Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Health and Pharmaceutical Law and Policy where her work focused on research projects aimed at making policy changes to improve healthcare access for people with disabilities and children. Professor Hoffman has also worked for Data Federal Corporation as a contract Attorney Advisor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals in the Cleveland office.
Professor Hoffman earned her S.J.D. in Health Law and Policy from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Additionally, she holds an LL.M. in Child and Family Law from Loyola, an asecond LL.M. in Law and Government from American University Washington College of Law, and her J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law.
Professor Hoffman feels a responsibility as a woman with a disability – she has been visually impaired since birth due to a genetic eye disorder – to ensure people with disabilities are part of the diversity and representation, including the faculty, of legal education. Recently, she was part of a drive that led to the Association of American Law Schools to approving a group specifically for law professors with disabilities and their allies.
“I want to have a role in paving the way for change so that we are not missing the talents and gifts of individuals with disabilities from the legal profession,” Professor Hoffman explained. “That starts in the environment and culture we create in legal education. We need those with disabilities who are interested in law to see they belong here in legal education and the legal profession.”
Professor Hoffman’s legal research has centered primarily around children’s rights, disability law, and health law. Her legal scholarship has been published in numerous law reviews and journals including the Notre Dame Journal on Legislation, Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law, Iowa Journal of Gender, Race, & Justice, and the American Journal of Law and Medicine.
This past year, Professor Hoffman served as an Inaugural Fellow for the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics Expanding Perspectives Fellowship Program. As part of that program, she has written an article to be published in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics exploring elder abuse looking at the regulation of electronic monitoring in long-term care settings.
“The idea for this regulation is to allow families to be able to monitor their loved ones in these settings using surveillance cameras when abuse is suspected and a loved one is not able to communicate what is going on,” explained Professor Hoffman. “As our population of aging adults continues to grow, it's more important than ever to consider possible ways the law and regulation can be used to hopefully eliminate instances of elder abuse.”
Professor Hoffman has also co-authored a book chapter “Telehealth Transformation in COVID-19” with former colleagues from Yale Law School, including Professor Abbe Gluck in a book to be published this fall, COVID -19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact, and Legacy. The chapter provides a snapshot look at telehealth starting from before the pandemic and highlighting changes that occurred during the pandemic in law and regulation in a number of areas with the overnight expansion of telehealth use.
At CSU|LAW Professor Hoffman is excited to continue her work serving as Co-Director of the Center for Health Law and Policy with Associate Professor Abilgail R. Moncrieff. Professor Hoffman has been impressed by the interest in health law from students and is excited for this year’s Speaker Series focusing on gender affirming care, as well as interdisciplinary events with the CSU Levin College of Public Affairs and Education focused on telehealth, involving behavioral health as well as human trafficking.
“I’m really proud of the rapid growth of our Center’s national reputation” explained Professor Hoffman. “I realized this most recently attending the annual health law professors conference and having a very prominent and respected health law professor acknowledge to me what awesome things we are doing here. I think that speaks volumes and we continue to work hard to grow in every way.”