What does a career in health law look like? When looking for career paths that emerge from the intersection of Law and Health Care, many possibilities exist. Health law is a very broad and diverse field with a wide variety of career options. Below are excerpts from Harvard's Health Law: A Career Guide by C. Pattanayak, J. Ruttenberg, and A. Eaton. As you will see, your legal journey could take a few different shapes, including employment with:
- Local Government: Most cities and municipalities will not have a large health care or health law infrastructure, but some of the largest cities will have, for example, a city health department comparable in size and scope to a state department. New York City and San Francisco are two examples of such cities.
- Nonprofits: There are many nonprofit organizations whose missions deal in whole or in part with health care issues, and they are located throughout the country and abroad. Many nonprofits engage in direct services, policy/legislative advocacy, or impact litigation. Still, other nonprofits engage in impact litigation to effect social/systemic change in health care. For example, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) partners with legal services and other advocacy groups to bring impact litigation to improve conditions for elderly Americans. Other examples of organizations engaging in health care impact litigation would be the HIV Law Project, the Center for Medicare Advocacy, and Health Law Advocates.
- Private public interest firms: A small but growing number of private firms practice public interest law. Such firms work for under-represented groups or specialize in issue-oriented work, such as civil rights litigation, tenant advocacy, or representing whistleblowers. Most of these firms have relatively small staffs and some charge fees on a sliding fee scale or maintain a traditional private practice in order to fund public service ventures. IV. In-house: Many institutions in the health care field have in-house lawyers who replace or coordinate with outside counsel. While these institutions are generally private sector entities, many of them are in the form of nonprofit or public benefit organizations. Such institutions can include hospitals or health care systems, HMOs, health care insurers, and professional associations.
- Private practice: Attorneys in private practice can specialize in health law; the content of a particular practice, of course, will depend to a large extent on the nature of the clients
Source: Harvard Health Law Career Guide
