Chair’s Column: A Place to Grow and Learn

All of the members and volunteer leaders are the heart of the Health Law Section. Without the connections and energy that each of you brings, the Section would not be the place that we all believe it to be. Given the importance of all of you to the Section, being able to highlight different leaders is one way to acknowledge and support individual contributions as well as continue to tell the Section’s story.

With that in mind, let me introduce all of you to Mysty Blagg, that is, if you do not already know her. Mysty is an associate at Proyner Spruill. Within the Section, Mysty is the Chair of the Post-Acute Care Continuum Interest Group and a Vice-Chair on the Emerging Issues in Health Law Conference Planning Committee. Mysty is well known within the Section for bringing a ton of energy and enthusiasm to every position she holds (or has held). How did she get here though?

In talking with Mysty, I found that her path to the Section will likely sound familiar to many of you. Mysty did not start her professional life as a lawyer—instead, she first started in dental hygiene before transitioning to working as a fraud investigator for North Carolina Medicaid. Mysty noted that her work as a fraud investigator directly exposed her to the interaction of the legal community and healthcare. Seeing the impact of the law firsthand, Mysty decided to pursue another career pivot and become a lawyer.

After finishing law school and starting work at a law firm, Mysty was encouraged to become engaged with an association. However, her first engagement was with a different association that she felt did not fully appreciate the perspective of someone coming to the legal profession as a second or third career. Mysty did not feel a great personal connection to the other association, even when attending an in-person event.

However, fortuitously for the Health Law Section, Mysty met Bill Hopkins (another one of the Section’s most enthusiastic and personable leaders) at the conference. Mysty and Bill got to talking a bit and the Health Law Section came up as a topic. Following the other association’s conference, Mysty decided to register to attend the Section’s Emerging Issues in Healthcare Law Conference. While registering for EMI was not the direct result of her conversation with Bill, the seed had been planted.

Mysty talked about arriving at EMI and seeing Bill again. This time, her in-person conference experience was much different. Along with Mysty’s own friendly nature, Bill helped introduce Mysty to other members of the Section. As so often happens at our in-person events, conversation began to flow and a feeling of community started to grow.

Mysty described that feeling of community as immediately drawing her in and creating a friendlier atmosphere where she felt she belonged. Not only did she feel a sense of belonging, but also a sense that her unique needs and desires could be met. For Mysty, one of those unique needs (as suggested before) was to find support and a mentor as someone entering the legal field following a different initial career. Mysty was not a neophyte to the professional world, but understood she had room to grow as a lawyer in order to fully capitalize upon the already-developed skills she could bring. She said that the Section helped in that capacity, because she did find mentors who understood her background and wanted to help.

The clear willingness to help and connect is a key reason why Mysty is involved with the Section and values it. She found not only mentors, but other individuals who just wanted to see others succeed. In one particularly striking example, Mysty talked about being engaged by a new client for an issue where she did not have any direct experience, but she wanted to handle it. Instead of being daunted by that circumstance, Mysty reached out to a friend she met in the Section and asked if that person could work with her and teach her so she could help that first client and be set up to do the same for others in the future. Not surprisingly, the other individual happily agreed to work with Mysty and play a role in her developing the new skillset. The end result was not only a good engagement, but Mysty getting the experience she desired that was enabled through her Section connections.

In talking about the Section as a whole, Mysty identifies it as a safe place to grow and learn within a legal career and on a personal level. Along with the professional aspects, there are also numerous opportunities to become a leader no matter what stage a person is at in their career. Mysty recognized and took advantage of the fact that the Section wants to bring new folks in and not just look to those folks with the proverbial white hair. Early-stage attorneys are encouraged to become involved and foster their leadership skills.

If you see Mysty at an event, whether virtual or in-person, be sure to reach out and say hello. She is an amazing resource on many fronts, and the conversation will help make a great day.

Mysty’s story with the Section emphasizes the core of what the Section represents. It is a welcoming community that seeks to create opportunities for everyone and be a place where everyone can feel not only comfortable but supported. All of those attributes rely on our members. The Section cannot sustain itself without every single person who is a member. Whether you are an active leader, a recipient of the content produced by the Section, or involved in any other way, we want you to grow from that connection and help the Section reach new folks who have not benefited from that exposure yet.