Incoming Health Law Chair Mark Ustin Meeting the Moment for an Expanding Field
5.23.2025
Mark Ustin, the incoming chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Health Law Section, is ready to support practitioners in a diverse and ever-changing field.
“One of the things that’s interesting about health law is that it encompasses so many different disciplines,” Ustin said. “One of the challenges I think we have as a section is serving all those many different interests within that rubric of health law. But one of the things that I think unites everyone is that it is a highly regulatory space, and highly dependent on government in many ways, and there is so much uncertainty around government and in the healthcare space in particular.”
Ustin is a partner at Farrell Fritz in Albany, with a practice focusing on advising healthcare providers in regulatory and lobbying services. He started his career in state government, serving as counsel to the New York State Senate’s Health Committee and assistant counsel to the Governor Health, Mental Hygiene, and Aging.
Ustin also served as deputy director and general counsel to the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also known as the Berger Commission, which was charged with making recommendations about the hospital and nursing home industries. He went into private practice in 2007.
Ustin credits the many committees of the Health Law Section for keeping track of how the law is changing and keeping members involved.
“The good news is we have a very robust committee system in the section,” he said. “Each of them is within their sphere, watching what’s happening, making sure the members are informed about what’s happening – in terms of participation in those committees, but also in terms of CLEs, in terms of our relationship to the world at large.”
He added that through the section, attorneys are able to get involved in public policy by generating ideas and advocating for change – an initiative he hopes to continue.
Ustin noted how the idea of healthcare and health law itself has broadened to include more than just physical health. “It’s also mental health,” he said. It’s also issues around substance use. Health law can be as expansive as talking about housing, talking about food access. I have been toying with the idea of creating a new committee that attempts to capture all of that. Everything sort of around healthcare. Because there’s people who specialize in each of those areas that also consider themselves health lawyers.”
