The Health Law Concentration capitalizes on the significant teaching and curriculum strengths within BU Law and other Boston University schools. It also provides students interested in the Health Law field with an opportunity to focus in a more systematic way on that area of law.
A student may be certified as having completed a concentration in Health Law by meeting the following requirements:
Health Law - Corporate
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Administrative Law (JD 801)
Health Care Fraud & Abuse (JD 726)
Health Care Transactions (JD 998)
Health Law (JD 856) OR Public Health Law (JD 926)
Remaining credits from the following recommended classes:
Antitrust (JD 891) OR Antitrust in Health Care (JD 838)
Corporations (JD 816)
Health Law Research (JD 717)
Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law (JD 802)
Health Care Decisions Bioethics (JD 727)
Health Law Survey Colloquium (JD 746)
Hospital Law (JD 913)
Information Privacy Law (JD 956)
Insurance Law (JD 850)
Public Health Law (JD 926) If not taken for the required courses
Externships:
Corporate Counsel Externship (JD 896)
Health Law Externship (JD 954)
Health Law Legislative Clinic (JD 986) Section A3 only
Tax Courses: Exempt Organizations (TX 926)
Introduction to Federal Income Tax (JD 889)
Taxation of Corporations & Shareholders (JD 887)
Recommended non-law course:
Health Law Sector Consulting (QST HM840)
Other Law Courses to consider, but can not be used to satisfy this track:
Alternative Business Entities (JD 860)
Competition in Health Care (JD 867)
Contract Drafting (JD 788)
Health Care Corporate Compliance (JD 745)
Mergers & Acquisitions (JD 988)
Transactional Law Research (JD 718)
Compliance courses: Compliance & Risk Management in Global Commerce (JD 918)
Compliance Policy Clinic (JD 823)
Intro to Risk Management & Compliance (JD 778)
Employment Law courses: Civil Litigation Clinic: ERC (JD 861) Section B1
Employment Discrimination Law (JD 853)
Health Law – Life Sciences
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Administrative Law (JD 801)
Food & Drug Law (JD 802)
Health Law (JD 856) OR Public Health Law (JD 926)
Remaining credits from the following recommended classes:
Health Care Decisions & Bioethics (JD 727)
Health Care Fraud & Abuse (JD 726)
Health Care Transactions (JD 998)
Health Law Survey Colloquium (JD 746)
Law & Regulation of Cannabis (JD 969)
Health Law Research (JD 717)
Externships:
Corporate Counsel Externship (JD 896)
Health Law Externship (JD 954)
Health Law Legislative Clinic (JD 986) Section A3 only
IP Courses: Intellectual Property (JD 857)
IP Law Workshop (JD 776)
Patent Law (JD 870)
Patent Litigation (JD 964)
Recommended non-law course:
Bench to Bedside: Biomedical Innovation (QST HM 801)
Other Law Courses to consider, but can not be used to satisfy this track: Compliance courses: Compliance & Risk Management in Global Commerce (JD 918)
Compliance Policy Clinic (JD 823)
Intro to Risk Management & Compliance (JD 778)
Contract Drafting (JD 788) Health Care Corporate Compliance (JD 745)
Information Privacy Law (JD 956)
Transaction Simulation: Follow-on Venture Capital Financing (JD 844)
Health Law - Litigation
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Administrative Law (JD 801)
Health Care Fraud & Abuse (JD 726)
Health Law (JD 856) OR Public Health Law (JD 926)
Remaining credits from the following recommended classes:
Antitrust (JD 891) OR Antitrust in Health Care (JD 838)
Civil Rights Litigation (JD 877)
Health Care Corporate Compliance (JD 745)
Health Care Decisions Bioethics (JD 727)
Health Law Research (JD 717)
Health Law Survey Colloquium (JD 746)
Hospital Law (JD 913)
Public Health Law (JD 926) If not taken for the required courses Whistleblower Law & Practice (JD 919)
White Collar Crime (JD 854) OR White Collar Investigations (JD 828)
Compliance courses: Compliance & Risk Management in Global Commerce (JD 918)
Compliance Policy Clinic (JD 823)
Intro to Risk Management & Compliance (JD 778)
Externships: Corporate Counsel Externship (JD 896)
Health Law Externship (JD 954)
Health Law Legislative Clinic (JD 986) Section A3 only
Other Law Courses to consider, but can not be used to satisfy this track:
IP Courses: Intellectual Property (JD 857)
IP Law Workshop (JD 776)
Patent Trial Advocacy (JD 933)
Patent Prosecution (JD 939)
Health Law – Public Health & Human Rights
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Administrative Law (JD 801)
Public Health Law (JD 926)
Remaining credits from the following recommended classes:
Critical Race Theory Colloquium (JD 731)
Disability Law (JD 749)
Environmental Justice & Civil Rights (JD 722)
Health Care Decisions Bioethics (JD 727)
Health Justice Practicum (JD 893)
Health Law (JD 856)
Health Law Research (JD 717)
Health Law Survey Colloquium (JD 746)
Housing Law (JD 935) OR Affordable Housing Law (JD 961)
Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Clinic (JD 975)
International Human Rights (JD 991)
International Human Rights Clinic (JD 859)
Law & Regulation of Cannabis (JD 969)
Mass Inequality & Social Trauma (JD 970)
Clinics/Externships:
Civil Litigation Clinic: A2J or IRL (JD 861) Sections A1 or C1 only
Corporate Counsel Externship (JD 896)
Health Law Externship (JD 954)
Health Law Legislative Clinic (JD 986) Section A3 only
Recommended non-law course:
Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights (SPH LW 840)
Mental Health Law (SPH LW 854)
Health Insurance & the Affordable Care Act (SPH LW 830)
Health & Human Rights (SPH LW 740)
Other Law Courses to consider, but can not be used to satisfy this track:
Election Law & Voting Rights Reform (JD 825)
Feminist Jurisprudence (JD 990) OR Gender Equality & Law (JD 914)
Compassionate Release Practicum (JD 685)
Health Law – Reproductive Justice and Rights
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Public Health Law (JD 926)
Reproductive Rights Seminar (JD 775)
Gender Equality Law or JD 990 Feminist Jurisprudence (JD 914) (S) (offered alternating years)
Choose remaining credits from the following doctrinal courses and clinics: Environmental Justice & Civil Rights (JD 722)
Health Care Decisions and Bioethics (JD 727)
Critical Race Theory Colloquium (JD 731) (S)
Disability Law (JD 749) (S)
Gender, Violence, & the Law (JD 798) (S)
Family Law (JD 811) (3 credits) or Family Law (JD 814) (4 credits)
Health Care Finance (JD 867)
Youth and the Law (JD 895) (S)
The Courts and the LGBT+ Movement (JD 911) (S)
Gender Equality Law (JD 914)
Queerness & the Law (JD 917)
Gender, Law and Policy Colloquium (JD 966)
International Human Rights (JD 991) (S)
Experiential courses: (a maximum of 6 credits for any one clinical or experiential course may count toward the required credits) Compliance Policy Clinic (JD 823)
Health Justice Practicum (JD 893)
Health Law Externship (JD 954)
Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Clinic (JD 975)
Criminal Trial Practice/Criminal Law Clinic (JD 982, 898, 899)
Semester in Practice: Fieldwork (JD 739) (placement subject to approval)
Semester in Practice: Seminar (JD 740)
School of Public Health Courses Directly relevant: Reproductive Health Advocacy: From Rights to Justice ( SPH MC 785) (2 credit, also a 4 credit version – MC815)
Related: (4 credits, except where noted) Reproductive Epidemiology (SPH EP 759)
Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Inequity in Global Health (SPH GH 735)
Health and Human Rights (SPH LW 740)
Beyond Reproductive Health; International Women’s Health (SPH GH 753) (2cr)
Sexual and Reproductive Health in Disaster Settings SPH GH 766)
Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants, Impact, & Responses (SPH GH 795)
Safer Sex in the City: From Science to Policy (SPH MC 705)
Women and Health Policy: Gender, Evidence, and Politics (SPH MC 840)
Health of LGBT Populations (SPH SB 807)
Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights (SPH LW 840) (seminar)
Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics (SPH LW 854)
Other options in Maternal and Child Health
Also of interest: BU School of Social Work Reproductive Justice and Social Work (SSW HB 790)
Reproductive Justice Learning Community
Other Law Courses to consider, but cannot be used to satisfy this track: Taxation and Racial Capitalism (JD 692)
Digital Civil Liberties (JD 779)
Crimmigration (JD 837) (S)
First Amendment (JD 839)
Affordable Housing Law (JD 935) (S)
Hospital Law (JD 913)
Housing Law (JD 961) (S)
Juvenile Delinquency (JD 824) (S)
Restorative Justice: Principles and Practices (JD 827)
Practicum: Community Lawyering [new offering for spring 2024]
Health Law – Customized Concentration
19 Credits Required
Required Courses:
Administrative Law (JD 801)
Health Law (JD 856) OR Public Health Law (JD 926)
AND
Approval of the concentration advisor for the remaining credits.
Each track also requires the satisfactory completion of a substantial written work on a health-related topic. This requirement can be satisfied with the same written work that satisfies the existing Upperclass Writing Requirement. If the paper was done in a course, seminar, or for another purpose and the supervising professor is an adjunct (part-time) faculty member, then the faculty concentration advisor must review the paper and confirm that it satisfies the concentration paper requirement.
Note on CR/NC: Students may only take one elective class for CR/NC. Required courses and all other electives must be taken for a grade.
Students receiving a 3.5 average in the courses above will be certified as earning honors in the concentration. Please note: In accordance with BU Law policies, only BU Law courses will be included when calculating the law school grade point average and when determining whether a student has attained a 3.5 average. All Law courses and seminars taken that could be applied toward the concentration will be included in determining honors unless, by the end of the applicable add/drop period, a student designates, in writing, that he/she does not want a course/seminar that is taken that semester counted towards the concentration. The “opt-out” provision does not apply to courses/seminars that are needed to satisfy the minimum requirements for the concentration.
To ensure maximum flexibility for students in their future career decisions, the transcripts of students who elect the Health Law Concentration will not reflect the Concentration. However, the School of Law Registrar’s Office will record completion of the Concentration and honors in the Concentration and will make available official documentation of completion of the Concentration and honors.
Laura Stephens is the faculty advisor for the Health Law concentration and is available to answer students’ questions about the substantive aspects of the concentration. Administrative questions should be directed to Associate Dean Gerry Muir.
Faculty
BU Law’s award-winning faculty includes numerous scholars and teachers with expertise in health law. From food and drug law, bioethics and family law to public health law, our faculty offers students a wide breadth of specialized skills in this dynamic field.