Co-curricular Programs

Health Matrix: Journal of Law Medicine
Health Matrix, our student-edited health law journal, is the highest ranked health law publication among law school specialty journals according to a 1999 study published in Florida State University Law Review. Published twice a year, each issue of Health Matrix includes articles by major scholars, along with student notes, written under the supervision of a faculty member. One issue each year is a symposium on a significant health law topic. In 2006, the journal published "Science, Politics, and Reproductive Rights." Symposium topics are wide ranging and have included bioterrorism, health care reform, regulating germ line genetic engineering, health care and tax exemption, and barriers to access to health care.

Students are selected for the journal based on their grades and a writing competition. Once chosen to be associate editors, students complete a major research paper, while providing research support to the journal's executive board. The Health Matrix Notes program, an advanced health law research seminar, provides structured and rigorous support as students develop their papers, which may be submitted for publication. Student notes recently published in the journal cover a wide range of topics, including direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising, prompt pay statutes, bioethics consultants, Medicaid and the developmentally disabled, hospital-provider agreements, stem cell research, Medicare reform, transgender and custody determination, biotechnology innovation, women's access to contraception, and a proposed national Healthcare Information Trust.

Health Law Clinic
Third-year students have the opportunity to participate in the Health Law Clinic, which is one of the offerings of our Milton A. Kramer Law Clinic Center. The Clinic operates like a law firm within the law school, allowing students to apply skills they developed in their coursework to several cases for real clients. The students in the Health Law Clinic have primary responsibility for their caseload, serving as first chair at all hearings, trials, and negotiations. On any given day of the week in the clinic, you may find students conducting an examination of a medical expert in a social security disability claim, drafting an advanced health care directive for an ailing client, or seeking to obtain insurance coverage from an HMO. All students who do not have a conflict of interest with their paid legal jobs can also be trained and certified as level two Long Term Care Ombudsmen. Certified students go to nursing homes to investigate complaints, monitor compliance with legal requirements and participate in administrative appeals.

Student Health Law Association
The Student Health Law Association pursues activities that promote the professional development of its members in all areas of health law. Activities include sponsoring lectures, workshops and symposia, organizing health law career development workshops and outreach programs, co-sponsoring service and charitable events with other student groups, and representing the concerns of students interested in health law within our law school community. SHLA members have the opportunity to network with professionals at monthly Cleveland Bar Association Health Law Section luncheon meetings, where they hear health law experts discuss variou aspects of their practice.