Navigate Complex Laws in a Rapidly Growing Industry
The healthcare sector is set to become the largest and fastest-growing sector in the U.S. and Miami's Health District is a major center for hospitals, clinics, and biotechnology and medical research industries. Miami Law provides expertise for rising leaders in health law and policy with courses, joint degrees and clinical opportunities in the area. Miami Law’s innovative curriculum prepares students for diverse career paths ranging from assisting indigent patients to representing biotech companies. Students in the Health Rights Clinic represent clients on Social Security, Medicaid, advanced directives, immigration, and veterans’ benefits matters. Our law school offers a health law concentration plus interdisciplinary opportunities through numerous joint degrees, including the recently added J.D./M.H.A. (Master of Health Administration) program. Attorneys with this legal background can work in a variety of capacities assisting physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, insurers, employers, and patients as they navigate health care laws and regulations.
Our Health Rights Clinic is the first and only U.S. clinic/school to be part of the Latin American Legal Clinic Network.
Unique interdisciplinary partnership with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and course offerings like Hospitals, Health Care Services, and Access
Largest private employer in Miami is Baptist Health South Florida
University of Miami Health System affords law students many avenues for networking, internships, and externships
“The studies I did at Miami Law were helpful in providing flexibility in my career. You can take what you’ve learned and tie it to your passion post-law school. A few of my professors came from the government side and that influenced me in directing my goals toward that career pathway.”
Nikki Mueller, J.D. ’98 Regulatory Counsel Food and Drug Administration Washington, DC
Courses*
Administrative Law
Alcohol Beverage Law
Assembly and Protest: War, Race, and Class
Business and Human Rights
Craft Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis: Regulatory and Transactional Considerations
Emotion and the Law
Emotional Intelligence: Life Skills for Lawyers
Florida Tort Law
Health Law
Health Law and Policy
Hospitals, Health Care Services, and Access
Human Rights
Human Rights and the Environment
Human Trafficking
Insurance Law
International Human Rights Law
Introduction to Healthcare Law and Policy
Large Scale Litigation
Mindful Ethics: Professional Responsibility for Lawyers in the Digital Age
Mindfulness and Negotiation
Non-Profit Organizations and Social Enterprises
Piracy, Terrorism, and Drug Smuggling in the Maritime Domain
Preparing the Corporate Client for Litigation
Robot Law
Scientific Evidence
Sexuality, Gender Identity, and the Law
Social Justice in the Administrative State
Torts
*Course list is not exhaustive and does not set out a path of study.
(Pictured: Law student with a client after winning his naturalization case, enabling him to receive disability benefits to help cover living costs and medical expenses in "Health Rights Clinic Wins Mulitple Wins in 2022")
“As someone with an interest in health law, overcoming the barriers of both the medical and legal system to advocate for a client is an invaluable skill I will use as I continue my path in public interest lawyering. The fellowship [at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Disability Law Project], was an incredibly fulfilling learning experience I didn't think I would have my first summer as a law student."
“The JD Master’s in public health really allowed me to not only allowed get a legal background but work with indigent communities in Miami….[with a joint degree] you’re perceived as an expert in a specific field and I think that’s very marketable not only to hiring employers but also to their respective clients. I would definitely say a dual degree is the way to go.”
Becky Greenfield, J.D./M.P.H. ‘15 Health Care Law Partner, Wolfe Pincavage, LLP Miami, FL
Center for Disease Control Public Health Law Program (Atlanta, GA)
Department of Health and Human Services (Washington, DC)
Florida Department of Children and Families Florida Department of Health
Florida Health Justice Project
Florida Justice Institute
Florida Legal Services
Harm Reduction Legal Project a The Network for Public Health Law
Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (Washington, DC)
Jackson Health System, Employee and Labor Relations Department
Legal Aid Society of West Palm Beach
Legal Services of Greater Miami, Health and Income Maintenance Unit
Legal Services of Greater Miami, Disability Law Project
Legal Wellness Institute (Brooklyn, NY)
Memorial Healthcare System
McDermott, Will & Emory Healthcare M&A Practice Group
Miami Children's Hospital
Moffitt Cancer Center
New York Legal Assistance Group (New York, NY)
Nicklaus Children's Hospital
Penn State Healt Office of General Counsel
Regenerative Medicine Foundation
University of Miami Health System
UHealth Office of Privacy & Data Security
UHealth Compliance - University of Miami Hospitals
Wolfe Pincavage, LLP, Healthcare Group
**List is not exhaustive and is intended to provide examples of past externships and internships.
"My externship was an incredible and immersive learning experience. My goal entering law school was to begin working in the health care legal industry post-graduation. Thanks to the Miami Law externship program, I recently began my professional journey with Jackson Health System!" Jazmine Vera, J.D. '22 in "Miami Law Launches New Focus on Health Law"
Faculty Experts
Tony Alfieri is the Founder and Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service, and the Founder of the Historic Black Church Program and Environmental Justice Clinic, at Miami Law. He teaches civil procedure, ethics, public interest law and leadership, social enterprise, and professional liability and lawyer malpractice.
Donna K. Coker focuses on criminal law, gender and inequality. She is a nationally recognized expert in domestic violence law and policy.
Charlton Copeland has written extensively on the Medicaid expansion provision and his research interests are administrative law, federal courts and federalism, comparative constitutional law, and race and the law.
Caroline Mala Corbin’s scholarship focuses on the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses, particularly their intersection with equality issues. She speaks often on religious opposition to the contraception mandate — the provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring that insurance plans cover contraception.
Zanita Fenton teaches courses in Family Law, Torts, Race and the Law, Constitutional Law, and seminars on Critical Race Feminism and Women and the Law Stories.
Frances Hill teaches and writes on tax exempt entities as well as constitutional law issues including campaign finance and spending clause controversies, and on issues arising in the course of implementing the Affordable Care Act.
Robert Latham, Clinical Instructor and Practitioner-in-Residence of the Children & Youth Law Clinic, teaches students who handle cases involving abused, abandoned and neglected children in a variety of forums, including dependency and family courts, administrative hearings, and federal and appellate courts.
JoNel Newman teaches professional responsibility, civil procedure and directs the Health Rights Clinic at the University of Miami. Since 2005 this medical-legal partnership has successfully represented over two thousand indigent clients who receive care in through the Medical School’s Comprehensive AIDS Program, the Pediatric Mobile Clinic and the Public Health Trust’s Community Medical Center.
Bernard P. Perlmutter, Professor of Law & Co-Director, Children & Youth Law Clinic, teaches and supervises second- and third-year law students who handle cases involving abused, abandoned and neglected children and adolescents in a variety of legal proceedings, including dependency and foster care, public benefits, health care, mental health, disability, education and immigration cases, in addition to appellate, legislative and administrative advocacy and law reform litigation.
Gabriel Scheffler is the Faculty Coordinator of the Health Law concentration and works primarily in the areas of health law and policy, administrative law, and occupational regulation.
Rebecca Sharpless, Director of Miami Law’s Immigration Clinic researches and writes in the areas of progressive lawyering, feminist theory, and the intersection of immigration and criminal law.
Susan Stefan has taught courses on mental health law and is one of the country's most highly regarded experts in mental disability law.
Kele Stewart is Professor of Clinical Education and Co-Director of the University of Miami School of Law Children & Youth Law Clinic. In the clinic, she supervises students who handle cases involving abused, abandoned and neglected children. She also teaches courses on family and juvenile law and legal practice. Her scholarship is in the areas of child welfare, children’s rights and clinical education.
Melissa Swain is Assistant Director of the Health Rights Clinic. Prior to that she was the Public Benefits Staff Attorney at Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami.
Craig Trocino, Director of the Innocence Clinic teaches classes in post-conviction litigation and federal sentencing. His areas of concentration are in appellate practice and post-conviction litigation and he maintains research interests in criminal law, habeas corpus and appellate practice.
Some Facts about Miami and Miami Law:
“The studies I did at Miami Law were helpful in providing flexibility in my career. You can take what you’ve learned and tie it to your passion post-law school. A few of my professors came from the government side and that influenced me in directing my goals toward that career pathway.”
(Pictured: Law student with a client after winning 
(Pictured: Student Org in the News, 
“As someone with an interest in health law, overcoming the barriers of both the medical and legal system to advocate for a client is an invaluable skill I will use as I continue my path in public interest lawyering. The fellowship [at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Disability Law Project], was an incredibly fulfilling learning experience I didn't think I would have my first summer as a law student."
