Solomon Center Hosts Annual Career Night

The Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, in conjunction with the student organization Yale Health Law and Policy Society (YHeLPS), co-hosted a panel of esteemed health care law alumni to discuss career paths and opportunities in health law and policy with students on March 25. Panelists included Rachel Clapp '12, Staff Attorney with the HIV/AIDS Representation Project, The Legal Aid, New York City; Sarah Esty ’16, Lecturer, University of Michigan Law School; Julian Polaris ’15, Associate, Manatt Health; and Karen Porter ’89, Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Executive Director of the Center for Health, Science, and Public Policy, Brooklyn Law School. The panelists provided exposure to a diversity of careers in health law and policy to consider as each had a distinct focus. Clapp works in legal aid, Esty worked in the public sector before recently joining academia in January 2021, Polaris works at a firm advising public sector entities, and Porter is in academia, focusing on public health. 

The evening began with each panelist giving introductory remarks about their career paths to health law and policy and highlighted critical moments that significantly impacted the development of those paths. In particular, the panelists shared their thoughts on different avenues to pursuing a career in health care law and offered candid advice on what they think is most important in navigating major transitions during a legal career in this discipline. The event concluded by allowing students to have an intimate Q&A and the opportunity to connect more personally with these outstanding alumni.

Rachel Clapp '12 is a staff attorney with the HIV/AIDS Representation Project at The Legal Aid Society in New York City. In this position, she represents low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS in a range of areas including housing, government benefits, health law, advance directives, HIV confidentiality, discrimination, family law, immigration, tax, and consumer law. Before joining The Legal Aid Society in 2016, she served as a law clerk for a federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of New York, worked for a small law firm in Manhattan, and interned with Lambda Legal in Chicago and the ACLU of New Mexico.

Sarah Esty '16 served as the Senior Deputy Director for Policy and Planning at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services from 2019 to 2021, where she led large crosscutting initiatives such as transformation of the states Medicaid behavioral health system, creation of a new statewide HIT roadmap, and major elements of the state's COVID-19 pandemic response. She previously advised state and local governments as a consultant at McKinsey, worked on economic policy for the Clinton Campaign and the White House, and advocated for low-income children and families at Connecticut Voices for Children. She holds a JD/MBA from Yale, and is a lecturer of University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches state government law and policy.

Julian Polaris ’15 is an associate at Manatt Health, where he provides regulatory and policy advice to healthcare stakeholders such as state governments, providers, health plans, and life sciences companies. Polaris focuses on issues related to healthcare coverage and reimbursement, Medicaid program structure and financing, and provider licensure and scope of practice. Prior to joining Manatt, Polaris served as a law clerk to Judge Susan L. Carney of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and also to Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Karen Porter '89 is Associate Professor of Clinical Law and Executive Director of Brooklyn Law School's Center for Health, Science, and Public Policy. She also serves as faculty director for the health law externship program. In 2020, she was appointed the inaugural Arthur Pinto & Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity. In 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed her to the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. Porter has particular interest in public health law and AIDS policy, starting from her first job after graduating from Yale Law School, senior policy analyst and staff counsel to the National Commission on AIDS.