Lou Cortina
About Kathleen Hoke, JD
Hoke is a professor; executive director, Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy; and director, Network for Public Health Law-Eastern Region, at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She developed and teaches the Public Health Law Clinic, engaging Maryland Carey Law students in the work of the Network for Public Health Law and the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy (LRC). The network provides technical legal assistance to national, state, and local public health professionals and their attorneys, legislators, and advocates who are working to develop sound public policy to improve public health. She also teaches Public Health and the Law, introducing students to the legal framework within which the public health system operates. Under Hoke’s direction, the Network’s Eastern Region has focused on maternal and reproductive health, cannabis regulation, environmental health, food security, housing stability, and injury prevention. Through LRC, Hoke provides technical legal assistance to Maryland state and local health officials, legislators, and organizations working in tobacco control, injury prevention, and cannabis regulation.
Impact
Hoke provided her expertise to advocates and legislators to support passage of the Tobacco Retail Modernization Act of 2024, which places additional restrictions on tobacco retailers and enhances penalties to those who sell tobacco products to underage individuals. She has become a leading expert on the state of reproductive health since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2023, she worked to secure passage of Maryland’s Child Victims Act to allow survivors to bring lawsuits against organizations that harbored abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred.
Quotes
Public health law is a perfect field for me because it incorporates many areas of practice — from tort law to constitutional law, administrative law to environmental law and more; calls on a variety of skills such as litigation, policy advocacy, and community engagement; and has a tremendous impact on individuals and communities.”
— Hoke
Professor Hoke has dedicated her professional life to public service. She brings that passion to her students, giving them real-world opportunities to experience both the challenges and the satisfaction of that work. She is a valued colleague, whose ready laugh, commitment to students, and deep knowledge of Maryland’s legislative process enrich our clinical program.”
— Leigh Goodmark, JD, Marjorie Cook Professor of Law and associate dean for research and faculty development, Maryland Carey Law
