University of Pittsburgh

Administration, Finance, and Governance

The Health Law Certificate Program is intended to give students interested in health law a basic grounding in the field, complemented by clinical experience and more in-depth study of advanced topics and closely related areas of law. Students are expected and encouraged to obtain the same broad background in law expected of all graduates for the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Students must elect to enter the Program by the beginning of their second year of law school. Only in rare situations (such as when a student is in the Flex Program or a joint degree program) will exceptions be made.

Core Courses (required)

Course Credits Professor Term Required
Business Organizations 3 credits Harper Fall Required Fall 2d year
Current Issues in Health Law I 1 credit Meisel Fall & Spring Required Fall & Spring 2d year
Current Issues in Health Law II 1 credit Meisel Fall & Spring Required Fall & Spring 3d year
Health Law & Policy 3 credits Meisel Fall Required Fall 2d year

Required Electives (register for at least two)

CourseCreditsProfessorTerm
Biomedical Technology Law 3 credits Harper Spring
Business Planning, Entrepreneurship & Technology 2 credits Harper Fall
Health Care Antitrust 1 credit McClenahan Spring
Health Care Business Transactions & Finance 3 credits Harper Spring
Heath Care Fraud & Abuse 1 credit Ramsey Fall

Clinical Experience (register for at least one)

CourseCreditsProfessorTerm
Civil Practice Clinic (Elder Law) 7 credits Mannix Fall & Spring
Civil Practice Clinic (Health) 7 credits Smetanka Fall & Spring
Health Law Practicum – Alternative Dispute Resolution 4 credits Smetanka (Not offered 11-12)

Electives (register for at least three)

CourseCreditsProfessorTerm
Administrative Law 3 credits Luneburg Fall
Bioethics & Law 3 credits Meisel Spring
Bioethics & Law Clinical Practicum 3 credits Meisel Summer
Biomedical Technology Law§ 3 credits Harper Spring
Biotechnology Law 2 credits Black Fall
Business Planning, Entrepreneurship & Technology§ 2 credits Harper Fall
Civil Practice Clinic (Elder Law)* 7 credits Mannix Fall & Spring
Civil Practice Clinic (Health)* 7 credits Smetanka Fall & Spring
Commercializing New Technologies 3 credits Kasznica Fall
Elder Law 3 credits Frolik (Not offered 11-12)
Elder Law Seminar 3 credits Frolik Spring
Emergency Preparedness Law 2 credits Sweeney (Not offered 11-12) (GSPH)
Employee Benefits 3 credits Frolik Fall
Global Health Capstone 2 credits Barnard Spring
Health Care Antitrust**§ 1 credit McClenahan Spring
Health Care Business Transactions & Finance§ 3 credits Harper Spring
Health Care Fraud & Abuse**§ 1 credit Ramsey Fall
Health Law & Bioethics Seminar 3 credits Meisel (Not offered 11-12)
Health Law Moot Court* 1 credit Smetanka Fall
Health Law Practicum* 4 credits Smetanka Spring
Health Reform in the U.S.: Past, Present and Future 2 credits James Spring (GSPH)
Information Privacy Law Seminar 3 credits Pike (Not offered 11-12)
Journal of Envir and Public Health Law*** 1 credit   Fall & Spring
Law of Disability Discrimination 2 credits Hornack Spring
Mental Health Law 2 credits Rozel/Zottola Fall
Nonprofit Tax Exempt Organizations 2 credits Lieber Spring
Public Health Law 3 credits Morris-Chatta Spring
Reproductive Rights Seminar 3 credits Frietsche/Brake Fall
Topics in Food and Drug Law 1 credit Greenberg Spring
Other Graduate Level Courses Students may take up to 6 credits of graduate level courses outside the School of Law for credit toward the Health Law Certificate Program with permission of the program director. Courses that are especially relevant are those offered by the Department of Health Services Administration in the Graduate School of Public Health, the Center for Bioethics and Health Law, and the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie-Mellon University. See http://my.pitt.edu, Self-Service, Browse Catalogue for a listing of all Pitt courses.

¹ This is an Arts and Sciences course, offered by the Center for Bioethics and Health Law. Please register through the Law School’s Registrar Office. The course number is 2664. This course meets on Thursdays from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the Medical Arts Building, Suite 300, 3708 Fifth Avenue. Permission of the instructor is required. You need to get a permission number for this course. Contact Janet Malis at 412-647-5785 or jem11@pitt.edu for permission to enroll.

*  If used to satisfy Clinical requirement, may not be used to satisfy Elective requirement.

** Counts as one-half course for purposes of satisfying required number of electives.

***Counts as one course if two or more semester’s credit; count as one-half course if one semester’s credit.

§ If used to satisfy the required elective requirement, may not be used to satisfy this requirement.

Writing Requirement

All students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law must satisfy the Faculty Supervised Writing Requirement (including students who are members of a law journal). For a full explanation of this requirement, consult the Student Handbook. Students in the Administration, Finance and Governance Track of the Health Law Certificate Program must satisfy it by writing on health law topic pertaining to administration, finance or governance, using any course, clinic, seminar or practicum which may be used in satisfaction of this requirement. (Courses taught by adjunct professors ordinarily may not be used.) Prior approval of the topic by the HLCP Director is required prior to the paper’s being written, in addition to approval by the course instructor. This requirement may be satisfied by an independent study only with prior permission of the HLCP Director which will be given only in extraordinary cases.

Recordkeeping

The HLC Program Office keeps track of your fulfillment of requirements and periodically notifies you of your status. However, you are ultimately responsible for knowing whether or not you have met all the program requirements in a timely fashion.

3/31/11

Revised 09/28/2011 | Copyright 2011 | Site by UMC