Health Law, Ethics and Policy Concentration
The Health Law, Ethics and Policy concentration explores the wide range of legal and ethical challenges impacting the medical and healthcare sectors. Our highly regarded health law scholars are experts in bioethics, constitutional law, drug regulation, end-of-life issues, genetics, health systems and insurance, human rights law, reproductive and sexual health law, and research ethics and regulation. As a student in this concentration, you'll be able to learn from our extraordinary faculty and to choose from courses in the field offered at the law school and other cognate disciplines, including the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
If you are looking to deepen your knowledge in this area and earn a specialized credential for future academic or professional purposes, you'll find this concentration particularly valuable. You will also enjoy this concentration if you are interested in an interdisciplinary approach to health law, ethics, and policy.
Admission requirements for the Health Law, Ethics and Policy concentration are the same as for the general LLM program. Students who wish to be considered for admission to the Health Law, Ethics and Policy concentration are encouraged to demonstrate their interest in and suitability for the concentration in their personal statement. Applicants to the thesis LLM program with a Health Law, Ethics and Policy concentration, are expected to be pursuing a thesis in Health Law or a related area. Admission to the program is competitive and not everyone who applies to the concentration will be admitted. If you are not accepted into the Health Law, Ethics and Policy concentration, you may still be accepted into the LLM program.
For more information about our program and admission process (including how to apply), please review our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
All students in the LLM Concentration in Health Law, Ethics and Policy may pursue either the course-work only option, or the long or short thesis option.
Coursework-only option (28 course credits):
Students pursuing this option would complete:
- LLM Seminar (1 credit)
- At least 12 credits of courses from the list of Health Law, Ethics and Policy courses.
- Additional courses, either from within or outside of the list of Health Law, Ethics and Policy courses, to bring them to 28 total credits in the program.
- A writing requirement, by either:
- Designating a three (3) or four (4) credit course, related to the area of concentration, as a writing requirement course and producing one piece of writing that is at least 5,000 words (or approximately 20 pages)
- Only courses requiring a written assignment of at least 5,000 words will qualify as a designated writing requirement course.
- Completing a two (2) or three (3) credit directed research project on a topic related to Health Law, Ethics and Policy, requiring a written assignment of 7,000 and 10,500 words, respectively.
- Designating a three (3) or four (4) credit course, related to the area of concentration, as a writing requirement course and producing one piece of writing that is at least 5,000 words (or approximately 20 pages)
Short thesis option (24 course credits):
If students in the concentration opt to write a short thesis of 50-60 pages (15,000 words), they will complete 24 credits in the program. Students pursuing this option will complete:
- Alternative Approaches to Legal Scholarship (3 credits) and LLM Seminar (1 credit).
- A short, 4-credit thesis in a subject related to Health Law, Ethics and Policy.
- 8 additional credits of Health Law, Ethics and Policy coursework.
- If the thesis remains a 4-credit thesis, students will also complete 8 additional credits of coursework, either from the list of Health Law, Ethics and Policy courses, or outside of the list.
Longer thesis option (24 course credits):
If students in the concentration opt to prepare a longer thesis of 150 pages (45,000 words), they will also complete 24 credits in the program:
- Alternative Approaches to Legal Scholarship (3 credits) and LLM Seminar (1 credit).
- A longer, 16-credit thesis in a subject related to Health Law, Ethics and Policy.
- At least 2 additional course credits in the area of concentration.
- Up to 2 additional credits of coursework, either from the list of Health Law, Ethics and Policy courses, or outside of the list, to reach a total of 24 credits.
Your course selection will be reviewed in order to ensure that an appropriate number of credits are devoted to the concentration.
You can also take graduate-level courses at U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.
- Gender Equality in Transnational Legal Perspective
- Health Law and Bioethics
- Intensive Course: Lawyering for Health Justice: Interprofessional Collaboration and the Medical-Legal Partnership Model
- Law and Ethics of Death, Dying, and the Use of Human Remains
- Law and Policy of Biotechnology
- Patent and Trade Secrets Law
- Psychoanalysis and Law
- Workshop: Contemporary Issues in Health Law, Ethics and Policy
The LLM does not qualify foreign-trained candidates to practise law in Ontario.
View our NCA-related offerings or contact the National Committee on Accreditation for information on practising law in Ontario.