Health & Biomedical Law Area of Focus

Health & Biomedical Law is available as an area of focus and concentration. Students interested in pursuing an Area of Focus do not need to enroll and do not receive a certificate upon graduation. Rather, Suffolk Law Faculty identify Areas of Focus to provide guidance to students about courses and extracurricular activities that will help students prepare for legal practice in the subject area.

The Field of Health & Biomedical Law

Lawyers practicing in the health & biomedical law field have unique opportunities to work in areas where public policy and the private ordering of transactional arrangements converge. The health & biomedical field concerns the role the law plays in a variety of circumstances, including: promoting the quality of health care; organizing the delivery and financing of health care; assuring adequate control of the cost of health care; promoting access to necessary health care; protecting the rights of individuals who receive care and provide care; conducting research to improve the products, services, and methods for delivering health care; and representing the interests of organizations, institutions, and agencies that provide products and services used in the health care system or that have a role in regulating those activities.

Emerging Roles for Expert Lawyers

Health & biomedical lawyers must be conversant regarding activities in all of these realms, but typically develop some areas of expertise within these broad parameters. Possible areas of specialization include: the organization and finance of the health care system; private health insurance; public insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid; the regulation of health care professionals and health care institutions such as hospitals, managed care organizations, insurance companies, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers; the regulation of research activities in all life sciences fields including stem cell research and nanotechnology; and the local, state, and federal governmental entities and international organizations and private accrediting bodies that regulate all of this activity.

In addition, the field encompasses the criminal and other constraints on compensation arrangements for health care organizations and physicians; the tax status of health care institutions; and transactional arrangements among health care entities and professionals. The field also comprises issues such as: ethical and legal issues arising in patient care and research situations; how medical personnel and insurers make decisions of medical necessity; the role of grievance and appeals processes to address denials of insurance coverage for health care services; and the role of tort liability for provision of health care services.

Develop Leading Skills

Given the breadth of substantive law areas the field encompasses, practitioners must develop a deep and extensive variety of practice skills. Strong writing and analytical skills provide the foundation for successful health & biomedical law practice. Writing takes a variety of forms, depending on the practice context, and can involve: drafting of statutes and regulations; preparing comment letters on proposed regulatory initiatives; preparing detailed analytical advice memoranda; drafting effective appeal letters; drafting contracts and other transactional documents; and drafting pleadings, memoranda of law, and briefs in litigation proceedings.

Skills in advising and counseling on transactions and legal compliance are also essential. The practice of health & biomedical law demands the ability to negotiate successfully with private and public entities and to conduct investigations of disputed processes and procedures. Certain areas, such as health care fraud, intellectual property, and antitrust practice, may call upon litigation skills in the criminal and civil realms, including prosecutorial skills.

Practice Settings

The health & biomedical lawyer may work in a variety of practice settings during the course of a career: private practice, ranging from small offices to large, multinational law firms; government agencies, including all levels of state and federal regulators’ and prosecutors' offices; private regulatory bodies; legislative and other policy offices; public interest groups; industry, trade or professional organizations; legal services and other public interest organizations; and in-house settings within hospitals or academic medical centers as well as insurance, pharmaceutical, medical device, and life sciences companies.