NYU School of Law

Constructing A Legal Education For A Career In Health And Benefits Law

Health and Benefits Law is a fascinating subject that combines concern with compelling human need, complex personal relationships, high finance and corporate organization, pervasive government regulation, civil rights, and equality.  It is also a growth area of legal practice.

A career in health and benefits law can take many forms.  This guide identifies the variety of work that health and benefits lawyers do and suggests courses that students should consider if interested in this type of work.

CORE CURRICULUM

NYU Law offers two courses that should be regarded as the core of a health law curriculum.

• Health Law (L13.3525).  This three credit introductory course is usually taught by Professor Sylvia Law.  It surveys the law, history, demographics, economics, and ideology of health care delivery and financing in the United States.  It also addresses issues of access, financing, and regulation of quality.
• Health Care Reform.  In Spring, 2011, this two credit seminar will be taught by Adjunct Professors Deborah Bachrach and Joe Baker.  It focuses on the recently enacted federal health reform legislation.  It provides an overview of the history of the politics and substance of health reform, and then examines the key elements of the reform legislation.
• Health Law Seminar (L13.3500).  This two credit seminar is usually taught by Professor Sylvia Law.

NYU Law also offers two courses that should be regarded the core of the benefits law curriculum.

• Poverty Law.  This two credit introductory course examines the legal and justice issues of poverty and children, disability, health, housing, social security, welfare and work.  It also explores the role of law and lawyers in bringing about social change.
• Employee Benefits Law (L11.3021.001).  This four credit introductory course is usually taught by Professor Brookes Billman. It examines the tax, labor, and other regulatory and policy aspects of employee pension and welfare benefit plans.

SUPPLEMENTING THE CORE CURRICULUM

In addition to the health and benefits core curriculum, there are numerous courses that may be important to a career these fields, depending on the area chosen.  We have listed these courses in the next section.  They are grouped by general career paths.

It is worth noting that it is customary for lawyers to move from on area of health and benefits law to another throughout their careers.  We have listed career paths in which you might reasonably expect to find a job.  Many lawyers begin at a firm representing many different types of clients in the health care industry or needing advice on employee benefits.

Please note that not all courses listed are offered every academic year.

HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS

This area presents many employment opportunities for lawyers interested in health law.  Most hospitals, medical schools, health maintenance organizations, and community health centers have full-time staff counsel.  Most large organizations have their own legal departments, and many look to outside counsel when problems such as antitrust, regulatory, and union issues arise.

HEALTH CARE AND REGULATION

This area offers many employment opportunities working for local, state or federal agencies that regulate health care, health insurance, antitrust or civil rights, as well as working for the health care organizations that must comply with such regulations.  Government agency work tends not to be as well paid as work representing mainstream health care organizations.

BENEFITS LAW AND POLICY

This area also presents many employment opportunities working for local, state or federal agencies administering public programs and regulating employee benefits.  One may also work for advocacy groups, think tanks, or nonprofit or for-profit lobbying organizations.  Work with for-profit firms tends to pay more but offer less freedom in developing policy positions.

CLIENT AND PATIENT RIGHTS: CIVIL RIGHTS AND BENEFITS

Because there are relatively few organizations in the United States devoted to obtaining benefits to which low-income people are entitled, competition for few job opportunities in this area can be strong.  Many legal services and civil rights organizations have a handful of staff members who focus on tax, benefit and health care access issues for the clients they serve.  Additionally, local, state and federal anti-discrimination agencies employ lawyers who focus on health and benefits law.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

This area of practice employs both plaintiff and defense lawyers.  Defense counsel is generally paid by insurance companies and on average earns more than plaintiff lawyers.  Plaintiff lawyers are usually paid on a contingent fee basis.  Malpractice defense lawyers, and less well-established plaintiffs’ lawyers, tend to have less choice about the clients they represent.

LABOR LAW

Health and benefits workers, particularly in the public sector, are often unionized.  Further, the general labor law of pensions and employee benefits applies to all workers.  Some small firms specialize in representing unions.  Other firms specialize in resisting unionization.  In addition to representing individual clients, labor lawyers often play an important role in state and federal debates about health care and benefits policy.

INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND BENEFITS POLICY

The study of health and poverty relief on an international level relates primarily to the work of national governments and international organizations to develop and reform health care and other safety net systems.  In recent years, the provision of health care, food, and shelter has been promoted under a human rights framework.  Many United Nations agencies are involved in the provision of health care and other basic needs on an international level, such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF.  The U.S. government is also active in such international initiatives through departments such as the Agency for International Development.  Additionally, many non-governmental organizations, such as CARE, Oxfam, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, are committed to international health care and poverty relief work.  Information about these organizations can be found through the Public Interest Law Center.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

This area of health law has received a lot of attention because reproductive health services are both broadly important and highly contested.   There are very few jobs that offer the chance to specialize solely in reproductive rights law, but many fields, such as employment discrimination law, regularly touch on reproductive rights.  Furthermore, a growing number of think tanks and legal organizations focus on reproductive rights.  A few government offices maintain a staff attorney to address reproductive rights issues.

BIOETHICS

This area, although extremely fascinating, offers few jobs that allow lawyers to address these issues exclusively.  A lawyer interested in focusing on bioethics may want to become a professor at a college, law school, or school of public health.  However, general counsel at a research hospital or medical school will also confront ethical issues in the context of human subject research, research studies involving animals, stem-cell research and other cutting-edge research.

OTHER COURSEWORK

Aside from course offered at the Law School, students can further pursue study of health law issues through a variety of avenues, both within the Law School and through other venues.

Directed Research. Students should consider directed research opportunities as a way to explore and develop personal interests.  Many professors are willing to supervise directed research projects on health law issues relating to the law that they study and teach.  Please consult the faculty advisor guide in determining the appropriate faculty member to supervise your work.

Institute for Law and Society. Courses at the Institute are open to law and graduate students and focus on social and legal policy, sociological theory, and comparative law and global practices.  The Institute is located in Butterick (161 Avenue of the Americas, 12th Floor), and its website is www.law.nyu.edu/ils.

NYU Wagner School of Public Service. NYU Wagner offers a variety of classes that focus on the policy and administration of public benefit programs.  Information about NYU Wagner courses can be found at http://wagner.nyu.edu/courses/listings.php.  Courses in the Social Policy “Cluster Area” include: Poverty, Inequality and Policy (P11.2445), Public Policy and the Shaping of Wealth and Poverty in the United States (P11.2622), Advocacy for Public and Nonprofit Organizations (P11.4125), The Economics of Education: Policy and Finance (P11.2441), Race and Class in American Cities (P11.2620).  Courses in the Institutions and the Policy Process “Cluster Area” include: Policy Formation and Policy Analysis (P11.2411), Power and Influence in Organizations and Politics (P11.2178), Decentralized Development Planning and Policy Reform in Developing Countries (P11.2665).

In addition, through its Health Policy and Management Program, NYU Wagner offers classes that focus on the management and policy aspects of health care delivery and financing.  Courses in the Health “Cluster Area” include: Community Health and Medical Care (P11.1830), Health Economics and Payment Systems (P11.1832), Health Services Management (P11.1833), International Health Policy and Prospects (P11.2242), Global Health Governance and Management (P11.2244), Healthcare Management Information Systems (P11.2821), Human Resources Management in Health Care Organizations (P11.2832), Current Issues in Health Policy (P11.2836), Financial Management for Health Care Organizations (P11.2842), Health Care Financing in Developing Countries (P11.2843), Advanced Health Care Payment Systems (P11.2845), Health Insurance and Managed Care (P11.2848), Economics of Global Health (P11.2852), Comparative Health Systems (P11.2852), and Health System Reform: Comparative Perspectives (P11.2867). 

Finally, students interested in careers in public policy should consider taking some foundational courses in economics and empirical analysis, including: Public Economics and Finance (P11.2140), Multiple Regression and Intro to Econometrics (P11.2902), Program Analysis and Evaluation (P11.2171), and Government Budgeting (P11.2143).

School of Medicine. While there is generally little overlap between medical and law school coursework, the medical school occasionally offers classes that are relevant to law students’ studies.  One example is Doctor/Patient, Lawyer/Client: The Nature of Professional Relationships (L06.3588), which is co-taught with law school faculty.

Note on Coursework in Other Graduate Schools of the University: For law school credit, a case must be made that a course advances interdisciplinary understanding and one of those disciplines must be the law.  That is, for a course to receive law school credit, a case must be made that the course will enrich a student’s knowledge of the law itself.

Students will be permitted to enroll for non-law school graduate courses within the University only if they have permission from the Office of Academic Services.  Permission to enroll, in all cases, will be subject to the availability of space in the class after registration at the particular department within the University is complete.

For more information, see the Academic Services request form available here.

Columbia School of Public Health. Law students can take courses at Columbia’s School of Public Health by using transfer credits.  Information about these courses can be found on the Columbia School of Public Health website (http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/).  To take courses outside the law school, you must obtain a request form from the Office of Academic Services.  Once you submit the form and receive the law school’s approval, you can receive transfer credits for courses taken at the Columbia School of Public Health.

Columbia School of Law. Law students are allowed to take one course at the Columbia School of Law.  Though only a limited selection of Columbia courses are available to NYU students.  Two courses which may be of interest to law students are: The Anatomy of Autonomy: From Personhood to Personification (L8174) and Reproductive Health and Human Rights (L8152).  The list of courses is available at http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/curriculum.  For instructions on how to register and receive credit for a course taken at the Columbia Law School, please click here for an online request form.

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