Impact Story: Mark S. Kopson

A Lifeline to Build a Successful Practice

Mark S. Kopson’s path to becoming the 2025-2026 President reflects the collaborative spirit that defines AHLA. Before taking on this leadership role, Mark served as Chair of the Governance, Education, and Finance Committees while building his practice as Shareholder and Health Care Industry Group Leader for Plunkett Cooney.

Mark is quick to acknowledge that his academic and professional stems from the AHLA members who stepped forward to help him along the way. These colleagues shared resources and insights that proved essential as Mark worked to establish himself in health law. Their willingness to invest time in his development made a lasting impression and helped shape his understanding of what a professional community can accomplish.

Now Mark looks forward to continuing that tradition. His primary Presidential goal is to ensure that AHLA remains a welcoming home for all health law professionals while advancing our historical spirit of collaborative camaraderie. The goal is consistent with his priority to spend time teaching, mentoring, and guiding young professionals just starting their careers in health law. For Mark, this commitment represents both a natural extension of his own experience and an opportunity to strengthen the connections that make AHLA such a supportive professional home.

I was first attracted to law as a way of using my talents to help others. I started my career as a litigation associate at a large firm but wanted to have more direct interactions with clients and the responsibility to support them in their matters. One of my classmates told me about a solo health law practitioner looking for an associate. I soon joined him as an associate and discovered that, unlike him, I had a passion for contracting and transactions in the health care industry. I learned as much as possible about these topics and started down a career path that has paid me richly in dividends. I am now a shareholder and chair of Plunkett Cooney’s Health Care Industry Group, who have served on its board and its Technology, Health Care, and Diversity & Inclusion Committees, and enjoy mentoring younger professionals both within and outside of my firm.

It is an honor to use my talents to help clients deliver and patients obtain the best health care available. I particularly enjoy helping non-profits develop new strategies for succeeding in an increasingly complex industry. Guiding and assisting organizations to effectuate positive changes in health equity, serve historically underserved populations, and advance inclusion and access is some of the most rewarding work I do. Even seemingly minor advancements and achievements contribute to a better future for all our communities.

I can say without any hesitation that I would not be the health lawyer I am today without AHLA. AHLA was and remains my lifeline to health law and gave me the insight I needed to build an effective practice. In my 38 years of membership, I cannot recall another time when so many major substantive changes in health law, policy, and practice have occurred in such rapid-fire succession. Throughout this time of rapid change, AHLA has provided the continuity, analysis, and authoritative educational content that health law professionals need to navigate these challenges. Newsletters from AHLA practice groups were a critically important source of practically presented information. Connecting and networking at AHLA programs afforded me invaluable opportunities to engage with health lawyers and consultants across the entire country. As I took advantage of the many resources available at AHLA, I discovered there were very few issues I faced that other members had not already confronted. AHLA has created a collegial forum of members who want to help each other succeed, and I am grateful to be a beneficiary of that help and support.

Attending AHLA's online and in-person programs has provided me with an incredible education. Equally as important, it also helped me develop in-person networking and business development skills, and some of my oldest and dearest friendships. Through participation in the PPMC PG, I learned priceless lessons in leadership, team building, and motivating volunteers. Through my service in PPMC and on AHLA's board, I've also gained invaluable experience in the development and application of governance and IDEA principles – experience I regularly apply both at my firm and with my clients.

There is no better source for health law content than AHLA, something extremely attractive to a lifelong learner. The camaraderie among health law professionals of all types – not only attorneys – is a primary attraction of my AHLA membership. Collaboration and camaraderie are the secret sauce distinguishing AHLA from any number of other professional associations. AHLA members are among the most giving professionals I've ever met. Giving freely of themselves and back to our profession are deeply rooted within the AHLA member mindset. I particularly enjoy mentoring students and newer health law professionals. Every mentee has taught me valuable lessons, both professional and personal.

I am deeply indebted to those AHLA members who invited me into their community, gave freely of their hard-earned knowledge, and helped me develop into the professional I am today. We achieve our successes standing on the shoulders of those who forged the path before us. With a humble heart and an immense sense of obligation to our beloved association, I view my continued service as my opportunity to pay forward the time, talent, and treasure devoted by the many AHLA volunteers, donors, leaders, mentors, and staff members who helped make me the health lawyer – and person – I am today. Anything I can do to continue those AHLA traditions and pay it forward is both enjoyable and rewarding.