The Best Schools and Programs For Health Care Law

Founded in 1953, Case Western Reserve’s Law-Medicine Center is the oldest healthcare law program in the United States – and the first to offer a LL.M. in law and medicine. The program, which includes 17 health law courses, also includes a Health Law Clinics for 3Ls. The clinic, which acts as an in-house law firm, provides students with caseloads that enable them to act as a first chair in interviews, hearings, and negotiations. 1Ls are also eligible for scholarships that include a summer research position. Most promising, the school maintains partnerships with the various hospital systems in the Cleveland area, though recent students have interned in organizations ranging from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

Seton Hall Law offers over 30 courses in health law, including programs specific to health policy, pharmaceutical law, and intellectual property (along with a LL.M. in health law). The school also maintains a Center for Health and Pharmaceutical Law and Policy, which conducts research and educates health care attorneys and professionals nationwide on laws regulating health care providers, manufacturers, and suppliers.
 
 

Established in 1984, the Loyola School of Law’s Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy offers over 40 courses in health law. Along with earning a J.D. with a Certificate in Health Law, Loyola students can pursue a LL.M. in Health Law; M.J. in Health Law; S.J.D. in Health Law and Policy; and a DLaw in Health Laws. The school also fields a National Health Law Moot Court Team; sponsors a Health Law Society; publishes The Annals of Health Law; and helps produce the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys’ Annual Health Law Update. Along with making an array of community service projects available, Loyola sponsors annual symposiums and field studies on health care access.

You couldn’t ask for a better site than the University of Houston Law Center, which is located near the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest medical complex. Established in 1978, the Health Law and Policy Institute offers 30 courses, along with a LL.M program and a J.D. that can be integrated with M.P.H., M.D., or PH.D. degrees. Students can take courses at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and the University of Texas School of Public Health, Health Sciences Center in Houston. And the Law Center helps sponsor an interdisciplinary team from the schools of medicine, public health, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and social work that competes in various health law and policy competitions. In addition, the Law Center is known for its Houston Journal of Health Law and Policy, a student-run health journal that has been recognized worldwide.
Like Maryland’s Carey School, the Georgetown University Law Center benefits from its Washington D.C. locale, where students have earned externships in organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Human Rights Watch. Housed in the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, the health law program provides tracks in health care financing, health care organization and delivery, bioethics, and public health, along with LL.M. programs for Global Health Law and Global Health Law and International Institutions. Georgetown Law has also partnered with John Hopkins University to offer joint degree in law and public health, regarded as the best program of its kind.
The Robert H. McKinney School of Law at the University of Indiana-Indianapolis rounds out the top 10. The Hall Center For Life and Health includes over 30 health law courses, along with a LL.M. degree in Health Law, Policy, and Bioethics, joint JD and Master’s program in Public Health and Health Administration, and a joint JD and MD program with the school of medicine. Students can also participate in externships, publish original research in the Indiana Health Law Review, and enroll in the school’s Health Law Society.