Pioneering health law: How the School of Law set the foundation for an evolving field
When the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law opened in 1953, it was the first of its kind and did the remarkable:“We spawned an entirely new legal discipline,” said Maxwell Mehlman, JD, the center’s longtime co-director, a Distinguished University Professor and the Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law.
Today, its health law courses, experiential-learning programs and research projects involve topics from reproductive rights to regulatory compliance; from artificial intelligence in medicine to ethical concerns in clinical-trial recruitment. And faculty and students both “play a pivotal role in tackling today’s toughest legal challenges,” said Sharona Hoffman, JD, SJD, the Edgar A. Hahn Professor of Law and co-director of the Law-Medicine Center.
The center’s collaborations with nearby world-class hospitals also provide students access to real-world healthcare environments and experiences.That access allowed Olivia Jack (CWR ’18; GRS ’18, bioethics) to shadow intensive-care unit clinicians while earning her master’s in bioethics—which led her to law school and, soon, a third CWRU degree.
She’s now publications editor for the newest issue of the Law-Medicine Center’s Health Matrix: The Journal of Law Medicine and working closely with Hoffman. “Being part of the oldest health law program in the country means learning from people who don’t just study the field—they shape it,” said the third-year student. “These are the people I wanted to be mentored by.”
Illustration by: Raúl Soria
