Health Law: General

Health law issues often have a multidisciplinary scope, requiring perspectives from business, science and policy analysis as well as the law. Which areas are most relevant to a health law attorney's practice depends upon the attorney's specialty area. For instance, lawyers representing health care providers need a solid grounding in business and contract law. Life science attorneys also need to understand business principles, but a knowledge of intellectual property law and a basic scientific vocabulary is essential. Those focused on health care reform, however, find economics and analytical tools more useful than a depth in business or intellectual property law.

If you're not sure in what area of health law you'd like to focus, you'll want to take classes that will give you a solid understanding of health law, in general, and the basics in business law, intellectual property and policy analysis.