Studying Health Law & Policy at WCL
AUWCL brings the practice of health law directly into the classroom, ensuring that students graduate practice-ready and connected to opportunities in the field. Our students benefit from a depth of health law course offerings that few law schools are able to match, including courses in health law and policy, food and drug law, health care privacy and data security, health care fraud and abuse, health care business transactions, medical malpractice, bioethics, public health law, and global health law. Students can take our health law courses during the fall and spring semesters and during the annual Health Law & Policy Summer Institute, which is also open to legal professionals and students from other schools. Summer Institute courses led by expert practitioners delve into the legal, regulatory, policy, and compliance implications of up-to-the minute developments in this dynamic field. Many students also pursue coursework in related fields such as intellectual property, nonprofit law, antitrust, civil rights, disability law, privacy law, employment and labor law, insurance and pension law, and poverty law. Health law also draws on many foundational fields of legal study and practice, including contract law, torts, constitutional law, administrative law, business associations, and tax law.
Students who have completed their first law degree (e.g., JD or LL.B.) may pursue an LL.M. degree with a Health Law Specialization.
JD and LL.M. students at AUWCL extend their studies beyond the classroom, participating in a wide array of internships and externships in the Washington, DC area. While law students from other areas are limited to summers or a single semester in DC, AUWCL students hone their skills and build their resumes year-round at local, state, federal, and international health agencies and organizations.
Students also build expertise through leadership and enrichment opportunities with the Health Law & Policy Students Association (HLPSA), which organizes conferences, career panels, and networking opportunities, the , a student-run publication and blog, and teams that participate in health law moot court, transaction, and regulatory and compliance competitions across the country. Law students across the nation also have the opportunity to participate in AUWCL's Annual National Health Law Writing Competition.