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Penn Law team wins Health Law Regulatory & Compliance Competition

February 26, 2020

Sophie Beutel L’20, Marissa Fritz L’20, and Simone Hussussian L’20 recently placed first in the 9th Annual Health Law Regulatory & Compliance Competition at the University of Maryland Frances King Carey School of Law

On February 22, a team of three University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School students won first place in the 9th Annual Health Law Regulatory & Compliance Competition (HLRCC) at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in Baltimore, Maryland. Sophie Beutel L’20, Marissa Fritz L’20, and Simone Hussussian L’20 came home with the top prize, defeating fourteen other teams in the competition that challenges participants to “navigate through the complex regulatory landscape of health care law, including compliance with health care regulations and FDA law.”

All three students are joint degree students in the Master of Bioethics (MBE) program through Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.

“Competing at the University of Maryland’s Health Law Regulatory & Compliance Competition has been a rewarding experience not only because it shows that Penn Law can go toe-to-toe with the nation’s top health law programs,” said Hussussian, “but also because I feel prepared to enter health care legal practice.”

The HLRCC is designed as an hour-and-a-half challenge during which teams of two or three students analyze a hypothetical fact pattern involving regulatory and compliance oversight in the health care arena. Teams must present their conclusions to a panel of practicing regulatory and compliance attorneys, and winners were announced at the competition luncheon, during which students were able to mingle with their coaches, fellow competitors, and judges.

This year, 15 teams from 12 different law schools competed in the HLRCC. Students from American University Washington College of Law took second and third places. As the first place winners, the Penn team also took home sought-after prizes from competition sponsors, including complimentary registration to The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Annual Meeting in San Diego in June 2020, a generous stipend to support airfare and lodging, and the AHLA Fundamentals of Health Law publication, as well as one complimentary educational registration, one complimentary webinar, and one year of FDLI student membership from The Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI).

“The event is an excellent chance for students to not only challenge themselves on substantive health law topics, but to engage with them in a realistic practice setting and present their findings to leaders in the field of health law and receive real time feedback,” said Rebecca Hall, Managing Director of Maryland Carey Law’s Law & Health Care Program. “We are so honored to meet all the teams and judges who travel from across the country to be a part of this exciting event and look forward to seeing Penn Law students again next year!”

Professor Allison Hoffman, health care law expert, served as mentor to the Penn Law students and directed all accolades to the students.

“I’m proud of Penn Law’s team – Simone, Marissa, and Sophie – for the initiative and hard work it took to win Maryland’s Health Law Regulatory and Compliance Competition,” said Professor Hoffman. “Their self-direction and skilled analysis of complex regulatory issues bodes very well for their future success in the field.”

The team lauded Professor Hoffman’s efforts in helping the team prepare, and they also thanked Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science Cary Coglianese, who is Director of the Penn Program on Regulation and head of The Regulatory Review, as well as Adjunct Professor Angus Corbett and Paul Kaufman, who both teach health law courses at the Law School.

“On the day of the competition,” Fritz said, “we felt confident that our experiences both inside and outside the classroom gave us the foundation to fully spot the issues in the fact pattern and present to the judges.”

All three students expressed their enthusiasm about the event and encouraged their fellow law students to consider signing up for the competition in years to come.

“This competition was a great opportunity to apply many of the things we’ve learned in the classroom,” said Beutel. “We really hope that Penn Law students interested in health care law participate in the future.”