The Health Law Concentration at Albany Law School combines bioethics, lawyering skills and policy development, helping students to gain the intellectual foundation and practical experience needed for career success in the health law field.
Albany Law is training experts in the legal, ethical and policy programs posed by the health science in the 21st century. Our students and alumni are becoming leaders in areas such as bioethics, managed care, health policy and advocacy, and intellectual property issues in biotechnology.
Within the Health Law program we offer a
J.D./M.S. dual degree in law and bioethics, one of only two law schools in the U.S. that offer the option to complete such a program in just three years.
In addition, Albany is a world leader in nanotechnology, neural imaging, biodefense, brain computer devices, newborn screening, and health policy.
Practical Experience
Early on students work with a specific health law issue with a faculty member, learning to read, write and research like lawyer. Students also represent a client from interview to summary judgment to appeal.
Advanced courses in areas such as trial practice, interviewing, mediation and negotiation combine instruction and hands-on practice to build important skills.
Through the Health Law Clinic, students represent clients who are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, cancer or other chronic medical conditions and have legal problems related to their medical conditions. Through the Civil Rights and Disabilities Law Clinic they represent clients with developmental disabilities in legal matters.
Requirements:
15 credits from the following courses and additional experiential credits:
Required:
Electives:
Interdisciplinary courses in related joint-degree programs may count as electives with the approval of the faculty advisor and Academic Dean.
Experiential Requirement:
Participation in at least one of the following experiential programs:
- Applied Health Policy
- Health Law Clinic
- Health Law Related Field Placement or Semester in Practice (with faculty advisor approval)
Writing Requirement:
Students are required to complete one significant piece of writing in the concentration area. The writing requirement does not require that students earn any credits beyond the required credits described above. The topic and the arrangement for fulfilling the writing requirement, however, must be approved in advance by the Concentration Advisor. The paper could be written to fulfill the requirements of a course, an independent study, or a law journal note and comment. It may also be possible to fulfill this requirement by completing a substantial piece of writing in conjunction with an experiential course, clinic, or Field Placement, such as a brief, a series of Motions, or a significant legal memorandum. It could also be fulfilled by writing a paper independently, such as a submission to a writing competition or an article for publication. In all of these arrangements, the prior approval of the Concentration Advisor is required.
(Effective December 18, 2018)
