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    Mar 29, 2024  
2015-2016 School of Law Bulletin 
    
2015-2016 School of Law Bulletin [Archived Bulletin]

Health Law Certificate


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The Health Law Certificate combines coursework, experiential learning, and networking opportunities to provide you with knowledge, skills, and insight that show future employers you have significant understanding and practical application of health law concepts.

Application
Only current Hamline University School of Law students may be admitted to the General Health Law Certificate program.
You are encouraged to apply early in your tenure so that you can meet with your Certificate Advisor to develop a completion plan and have sufficient time to complete the Certificate.It is recommended that weekday students submit their application by October of their second year and weekend students submit their application by Marchof their second year.This will help you to maximize your experience in the Health Law Institute so that you can plan for the required courses, experiential learning, and extra-curricular activities as needed.

Initial Advising Meeting
Once admitted to the General Health Law Certificate program you will meet with a Certificate Advisor. A staff or faculty member of the Health Law Institute will contact you to schedule this meeting.

Biannual Progress Report
In order to remain in good standing a Certificate student must maintain regular official contact with HLI. This requires completion and submission of the Biannual Progress Report Form each March and October. A form is included in the certificate Handbook.

Exit Interview
Before your Certificate is awarded, you must complete an exit interview with your Certificate Advisor. You must bring your completed Requirements Checklist to the exit interview so we can verify that you have completed all of the required elements of the Certificate. It is your responsibility to schedule the exit interview; please contact your Certificate Advisor in your final semester of law school. If you are taking Certificate courses during your final semester, you should schedule the meeting after the final drop date for classes has passed. We will not submit your paperwork to the Registrar until an exit interview has been completed.

GPA Requirement
You must achieve a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA (calculated at the time of graduation) in the Core and Elective Courses. Please note that all health law coursework will be used to calculate your GPA, even if you take more than the required 17 credits.

To receive a General Health Law Certificate you must complete all of the following requirements prior to graduation and all coursework must be completed while enrolled as a JD student.

Health Law Core Courses


Core Courses - 11 credits
These courses may be taken at any point during your tenure.

Health Law Elective Courses


For the Health Law Certificate, students choose six elective credits. A variety of health law courses are offered in the academic year, January Term, and Summer Term. Regular course offerings, Selected Topic courses, and Seminar courses may qualify as electives. When choosing electives, you should be cognizant of which area(s) you are most interested: health policy, transactional/corporate, compliance/regulation, or litigation. Additional courses may be approved as electives by the HLI Director.

Experiential Learning


You must fulfill an experiential learning requirement which exposes you to the health care industry outside the classroom. This requirement may be satisfied by participating in the Health Law Clinic, the Health Law Externship, pro bono work in an approved health law setting, or an agreed upon internship experience. The Clinic and Externship credits may also count towards your elective credit requirements. Descriptions of each experiential learning option follow:

  1. Health Law Clinic: Students may complete a clinic with a health law focus.
  2. Health Law Externship: Students may complete an externship with a health law focus.
  3. Pro Bono Work: Students can meet this requirement by satisfactorily completing a minimum of 25 pro bono hours in an approved health law setting. (Please note that pro bono hours may also count toward the Hamline University School of Law Pro Bono Graduation Requirement.) Appropriate pro bono placements will involve work in one of the many diverse areas of health law, including inter alia, patient advocacy, public health law, health policy, and elder law. Upon completion of the pro bono work, the student must obtain a letter from his/her supervisor documenting the hours completed and describing the student’s work, both substantively and qualitatively. All pro bono work should be coordinated through the Minnesota Justice Foundation.
  4. Internship: The clinic, externship, and pro bono work provide the best opportunities to gain real-world experience in health law and build a network of professional contacts within the field. However, students have the opportunity to instead arrange an internship. An internship plan must be pre-approved by the Director of the Health Law Institute and documentation must be provided following the experience.

Extra-Curricular Activities


During your tenure at Hamline University School of Law, you must participate in at least six extra-curricular activities that introduce health law issues or provide networking opportunities with leaders in the health law community. These activities may include lectures, conferences, symposia, CLEs, or breakfast/lunch meetings.These events provide opportunities for networking and substantive engagement; as a result, students generally exceed the required six activities. You must record the activities you attend on your Requirements Checklist. Any events sponsored by the Health Law Institute (career panels, CLE events), the Health Law Section, Elder Law Section, or by the Food & Drug Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) are qualifying events. Non-HLI and non-MSBA events may also qualify but must be approved by your Certificate Advisor. Information sessions and student group meetings will not count toward this requirement.

 

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