Study

This clinical course focuses on people living with serious illness. Student attorneys are the primary legal representatives for clients living with HIV, cancer, and other serious health conditions. Students may also work on policy or community education projects related to health and the law. Faculty supervisors provide back-up, training, coaching, and regular feedback as students handle cases involving access to health coverage (Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance), income (disability benefits and employment), end-of-life planning (wills, advance directives), job accommodations, and discrimination. Students may also work on cases involving health information privacy, planning for the future care of children (guardianship), and name changes and health insurance for transgender clients. In assigning cases, faculty strive to honor students' interests.

Students engage with clients from diverse backgrounds whose lives have been disrupted by serious illness, including people living in poverty, those who have experienced the financial toxicity of illness, members of the LGBTQ community, and people struggling with addiction or mental illness. Although many of our clients are facing serious health and/or life challenges, students consistently remark on their clients’ resilience and gratitude, and value the experience of having a tangible impact on client's lives.

In addition to extensive client interactions, students will engage with health care providers, social workers, government officials, and other professionals. Students interview and counsel clients and witnesses, draft estate planning documents, analyze medical records, collaborate with other professionals, including medical providers and social workers, interview and prepare affidavits for medical providers and other witnesses, conduct fact investigations and legal research, draft legal memoranda, and as needed, represent clients in administrative and other hearings. Interested students may have the opportunity to engage in public speaking through presentations to medical providers, social workers, or client/community groups.

The Health Justice Clinic is appropriate for students interested in any practice area, as the skills employed are applicable to all areas of law. The Clinic may be particularly relevant for students who will work in health law, disability law, poverty law, or any administrative law field. Graduates of the clinic also report that it was especially helpful in their careers in public policy, government, and for developing a focus for their pro bono work in large firms.

Classroom work consists of a day-long intensive training at the beginning of the semester as well as a weekly, two-hour seminar focusing on substantive law, lawyering skills, professionalism, the health care system, social safety net, social determinants of health, and the role of race and other factors in health disparities. Students work closely with clinic instructors and enjoy a uniquely supportive mentoring and coaching experience. Students work on cases with a partner and have a weekly team meeting with the clinic instructors. The instructors are available throughout the week for consultation. Faculty prioritize each student's professional development and encourage the development of a work-life balance that will be essential in law practice.

The Health Justice Clinic is offered on a variable credit basis, 4-6 credits.