Public

At William Law Mitchell Center College of Law

Improving health through the power of law A proven legal resource

The Public Center is one of America’s preeminent centers of expertise in law and policy. A respected think tank grounded in research and scholarship, but focused on real-world results, we help community leaders around the world use the power of law to advance public health. Located at the largest law school in Minnesota and one of the nation’s leading law schools for public interest law, the William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul, we personify the college’s century-old commitment to “practical wisdom”— law with its sleeves rolled up.

Known formerly as the Tobacco Law Center, we are home to a skilled team of legal and policy specialists devoted to helping local, state, national and international health organizations improve the public policies that shape the legal and social environment. Our experts develop legislation to preserve, protect and promote public health. We help defend effective policies against legal attacks, and we provide legal guidance on public health issues ranging from “ tobacco control and obesity prevention to worker health, product “ and land use planning. We’re experienced professionals with a reputation as “go-to” lawyers, plain-speaking specialists who are friendly, hardworking, thorough and responsive.

go-to lawyers Trusted policy experts

Law is central to public health. And our attorneys have a long and successful track record in assisting local, national and international health leaders with complex policy issues. Ask our funders, like the World Health Organization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Cancer Society or the American Lung Association. Better yet, ask the people we serve – local and national public health advocates, city and county attorneys, public health departments, attorney generals, and organizations such as the National Association of Local Boards of Health, the

National Association of County and City Health Officials,

the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers and the Centers for Control and Prevention.

From Alaska to the Virgin Islands, from Maine to Hawaii, the health leaders we serve call us “life-savers,” “the best,” “enormously helpful” and “the perfect resource.” The “ “ positive feedback we receive on the quality of our legal assistance, our responsiveness and our overall accessibility reflects broad trust and deep appreciation for the work we do and the way we do it. go-to lawyers Respected legal scholars and teachers

The Public Health Law Center is a law and policy think tank. We may never stray far from the trenches of public policymaking, but we take teaching, research and scholarship seriously. Several of our attorneys are law professors, teaching public health law, legislation and appellate advocacy. We work with America’s leading public health associations to train local and state officials on the basics of public health law. We conduct seminars, symposia, and workshops on important emerging legal issues. Our experts are asked regularly to give presentations at leading state, national and international public health and law conferences.

We’re also known for the quality of our legal research. Our grant-funded research projects analyze and explain public health laws, and enable us to craft creative policy solutions and prepare scholarly studies and reports. We maintain the only free public database containing hundreds of law journal articles that have addressed laws affecting tobacco and health. Our national and international work has led us to develop valuable partnerships with leading academic institutions and public health law and policy experts across the U.S., as well as a broad network of global experts in public health legislation and regulation. { Healthy eating

Active living

Our ongoing national study of the food industry’s self-regulation of food marketing practices and their impact on childhood obesity is supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Under other competitive research grants, we’ve studied the legal challenges in harmonizing health policies within the jurisdictional patchwork of a metropolitan region, tested strategies for improving health benefit coverage for labor union members, and explored the relationship between health { issues and housing laws. } Advancing public health

Award-winning collaborations

• The Public Health Law Center is home to the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium – America’s legal network for tobacco control policy. Recognized by the CDC as one of the key resources supporting tobacco control efforts nationwide, the Consortium has helped write hundreds of tobacco control laws across the U.S., ranging from smoke-free policies to tobacco control funding laws to regulation of flavored cigarettes. An innovative collaboration based and staffed at our Center, but drawing on experts at affiliated legal centers, the Consortium received the National and Regional Collaboration Award of the Directors of and Education in 2004 and was cited by researchers in 2008 as a national model for delivering cost-effective legal services to public health departments.* • Our attorneys are key members of the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity and help communities develop, implement and defend innovative obesity prevention strategies. • Our WorkSHIFTS program works in partnership with labor unions to heighten awareness among workers, labor leaders, and management on issues of tobacco and health. • We’re an active partner in international tobacco control efforts through the work of the Framework Convention Alliance and the Global Smoke-Free Partnership.

* D.E. Hoffman and V. Rowthorn, “Building Public Health Law Capacity at the Local Level,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 36, no. 3, Supplement (2008): 6-28. Advancing public health

Legislative drafting and policy assistance • Every year, our attorneys field hundreds of requests for assistance in drafting, analyzing, critiquing and amending legislation. We are experts in designing, enacting, and implementing laws that are evidence- based, workable, effective and legally sound. • We edited the World Health Organization’s guidebook on developing tobacco control legislation. • We have the experience and expertise to meet the diverse needs of the public health community – whether it’s helping draft a smoke-free law for Guam, the State of North Carolina or a tribal government in South Dakota; reviewing a ballot initiative petition in Nebraska; or helping develop a disclosure law for restaurants in Minneapolis. • We even teach a law school course in legislative drafting and the legislative process. Litigation support Participants in our amicus briefs: When opponents challenge public health laws in court, we come to the aid of state • American Medical and municipal attorneys in preserving Association effective laws, drawing on our specialized • American Public expertise to provide critical legal resources, Health Association analysis and strategic advice. • National Association We monitor litigation affecting public of County and City health. In fact, we’ve created the world’s Health Officials only database of the hundreds of legal cases • National Association involving U.S. smoking laws. We’re in of Local Boards of the process of developing several similar Health databases in other areas of law. • American Cancer Society We write influential friend-of-the-court • American Lung (amicus curiae) legal briefs in key health Association cases before the highest courts of the nation. • American Heart Association We’ve prepared and filed amicus briefs in • African American more than two dozen critical tobacco cases, Tobacco Control from the massive U.S. Department of Network Justice racketeering case against domestic • League of California tobacco manufacturers to cases testing Cities the power of states and cities to regulate • Boston Public Health smoking and tobacco sales, to cases Commission defending victims’ ability to seek justice in the courts. • Kentucky Medical Association Our impact on health litigation even • Montana Public extends abroad. We wrote the World Health Association Health Organization’s report on the • Individual health globalization of tobacco litigation, and our leaders such as publication on U.S. judicial findings about former Surgeon tobacco industry misconduct was recently General C. Everett cited in an important legal ruling in Brazil. Koop A wealth of publications and resources

We’re known for the quality of the educational materials we produce for the public health community. Visit our website at www.publichealthlawcenter.org, for — • Our electronic newsletter, the Legal Update • Our widely read series of law synopses, summarizing the law in more than a dozen key areas of tobacco regulation • Our growing series of Healthy Eating Policy Briefs, exploring legal options and obstacles in many areas of food policy • Our unique labor union guide to dealing with tobacco in the workplace, and other workplace resources for labor and employers • The latest edition of our searchable publicationTracking Tobacco Laws, the definitive digest of Minnesota’s tobacco- related laws • The Verdict Is In: Findings from United States v. Philip Morris, our popular compilation of key findings from the federal racketeering case against tobacco manufacturers

{we wrote the book} Our expertise

• The legal powers and duties of public health officials • Constitutional limits on public health powers • Rulemaking and administrative law • Public health law training for non-lawyers • Lobbying laws and legal limits on advocacy • Workplace health and wellness • Health disparities • Health and housing • Marketing regulation • The health impact of community design • Social determinants of health • Health and human rights

Improving health “ “through the power of law Left to right: Kerry Cork, J.D., Julie Ralston Aoki, J.D., Mike Freiberg, J.D., Kate Armstrong, J.D., Warren Ortland, J.D., Susan Weisman, J.D., Maggie Mahoney, J.D., and Doug Blanke, J.D. Let us help you

We’re a diverse group. Together, our experts offer over 100 years of policy experience, working in all three branches of government, at every level from local to global. Our team includes former regulators, litigators, lobbyists, legislative staffers, judicial clerks, a lawmaker, and an administrative law judge. Two of our attorneys have been named by their peers as “Rising Stars” and “Up and Coming Lawyers”; one was an Equal Justice Works Fellow; and another founded a law journal on gender, race and justice. And we’re serious about justice. In prior careers, or as pro bono volunteers, we’ve provided legal services to the deaf, taught English as a second language to immigrants, volunteered as guardians ad litem for neglected children, fought for the victims of AIDS, served the victims of domestic abuse, and won political asylum for refugees fleeing torture. Diverse as we are, what we share is a passion for public service and a relentless commitment to public health. We’re available to provide legal research and technical assistance on key public health policies. We have award-winning public health law, policy and research expertise and a stellar track record of collaboration with all levels of the public health community. Contact us today at (651) 290-7506 to see how we can help you advance public health through the power of law. Contact Us

Public Health Law Center William Mitchell College of Law 875 Summit Avenue Saint Paul, Minnesota Tel: (651) 290-7506 Fax: (651) 290-7515 www.publichealthlawcenter.org

The Public Health Law Center is located at Minnesota’s largest law school—William Mitchell College of Law— a century-old institution with a tradition of putting law to work in practical ways for the good of community.