MWMiddle West UniversityAppleton, Wisconsin · USA

LL.M — Master of Laws

A specialised master of laws in medical and health care law, comparative in method and practical in output.

Degree awarded
Master of Laws (LL.M)
Program length
4 semesters
Credits
120 credits
Language
English
OverviewCurriculumPDF downloadsVideos & podcastsResource LibraryMCP resourcesAssessmentThesisTuitionFAQ

About the program

Program overview

The LL.M concentrates on the law that governs the delivery of health care: who may treat, on what terms, with what consent, at what risk, and under whose supervision. It is comparative by design, contrasting United States federal and state regulation with European approaches.

The programme suits lawyers who advise providers, insurers, laboratories or life-sciences companies, and equally suits senior health care professionals who need formal legal competence rather than an introduction.

Assessment favours the documents lawyers actually produce: opinions, memoranda, compliance programmes, contract redlines and regulatory submissions.

Mode of study

Fully online, asynchronous study with scheduled tutorial consultations

Admission requirements

Bachelor's degree in law, or a bachelor's degree with relevant legal or health care experience

Learning outcomes

What graduates are able to do

  1. 01Compare and apply United States and European rules governing medical practice and health data
  2. 02Draft a reasoned legal opinion on provider liability with authority citations
  3. 03Design a compliance programme that maps to identified statutory duties
  4. 04Negotiate and redline commercial agreements for health care institutions
  5. 05Conduct doctrinal and empirical legal research to master's standard

Full syllabus

Curriculum, semester by semester

Semester 1 — Foundations of medical law

Doctrine and comparative method

30 credits
LLM-101

Comparative Medical Law

9 credits

225 hours total workload

Sources and structures of medical law in the United States and Europe, licensure, scope of practice, professional discipline and the constitutional or charter background.

Course learning outcomes
  • Locate the governing rule for a clinical activity across two legal systems
  • Explain the allocation of competence between federal and state or union and member-state levels
  • Write a comparative note on a defined regulatory divergence

Assessment: Comparative memorandum (100%)

LLM-102

Patient Rights and Informed Consent

7 credits

175 hours total workload

Autonomy, capacity, substituted decision-making, minors, refusal of treatment, emergency exceptions and the documentary requirements of valid consent.

Course learning outcomes
  • Assess capacity and identify the correct decision-maker on given facts
  • Draft a consent instrument for a high-risk intervention
  • Advise on refusal-of-treatment scenarios including minors

Assessment: Two advisory opinions (100%)

LLM-103

Legal Research Methods

7 credits

175 hours total workload

Doctrinal research technique, statutory interpretation, case analysis, comparative method and empirical approaches to legal questions.

Course learning outcomes
  • Construct a complete authority chain for a legal proposition
  • Apply canons of statutory interpretation to a contested provision
  • Design a small empirical study of legal practice

Assessment: Research portfolio (100%)

LLM-104

Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics

7 credits

175 hours total workload

Duties to client and tribunal, conflicts, privilege in institutional settings, internal investigations and the ethics of advising regulated clients.

Course learning outcomes
  • Identify and resolve a conflict of interest in an institutional engagement
  • Preserve privilege during an internal investigation
  • Advise on the ethical limits of aggressive regulatory positioning

Assessment: Ethics casework (100%)

Semester 2 — Liability, regulation and data

The core practice areas

30 credits
LLM-201

Provider Liability and Medical Negligence

9 credits

225 hours total workload

Duty and standard of care, causation, expert evidence, damages, institutional and vicarious liability, and settlement strategy.

Course learning outcomes
  • Construct and rebut a negligence claim on documented facts
  • Instruct and test expert evidence effectively
  • Quantify damages and advise on settlement ranges

Assessment: Full case file with opinion (100%)

LLM-202

Health Care Regulation and Compliance Programmes

8 credits

200 hours total workload

Licensure and certification, fraud and abuse rules, anti-kickback and self-referral prohibitions, corporate integrity obligations and enforcement practice.

Course learning outcomes
  • Screen a commercial arrangement for fraud and abuse exposure
  • Build a compliance programme mapped to statutory duties
  • Manage a regulator interaction from first contact to resolution

Assessment: Compliance programme and screening memo (100%)

LLM-203

Health Data Protection under HIPAA and GDPR

8 credits

200 hours total workload

Comparative treatment of health data, lawful bases and permitted uses, research exemptions, security rules, transfers, breach duties and enforcement.

Course learning outcomes
  • Advise on secondary use of clinical data for research under both regimes
  • Negotiate data-processing and business-associate terms
  • Run a dual-regime breach assessment against statutory deadlines

Assessment: Advisory opinion (60%) and contract redline (40%)

LLM-204

Contract and Commercial Law for Health Institutions

5 credits

125 hours total workload

Payer agreements, supplier and outsourcing contracts, clinical trial agreements, licensing and the allocation of regulatory risk in commercial terms.

Course learning outcomes
  • Redline a payer or supplier agreement to a defined risk appetite
  • Draft indemnity and limitation clauses that survive scrutiny
  • Allocate regulatory change risk between contracting parties

Assessment: Drafting portfolio (100%)

Semester 3 — Advanced and elective study

Specialisation and litigation practice

30 credits
LLM-301

Pharmaceutical, Device and Life-Sciences Regulation

8 credits

200 hours total workload

Market authorisation, clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, device classification, promotional rules and post-market obligations.

Course learning outcomes
  • Map an authorisation pathway for a product across two jurisdictions
  • Advise on the boundary between scientific exchange and promotion
  • Design a post-market surveillance compliance response

Assessment: Regulatory strategy paper (100%)

LLM-302

Dispute Resolution and Health Care Litigation

7 credits

175 hours total workload

Pre-action conduct, evidence in clinical disputes, arbitration in provider contracts, class actions and regulatory appeals.

Course learning outcomes
  • Plan a litigation strategy including cost and reputational analysis
  • Prepare a witness statement from clinical records
  • Advise on the enforceability of an arbitration clause

Assessment: Litigation plan and drafted pleading (100%)

LLM-303

Elective: Bioethics and Emerging Technologies

8 credits

200 hours total workload

Genomics, assisted reproduction, end-of-life decisions, artificial intelligence in diagnosis and the regulation of clinical algorithms.

Course learning outcomes
  • Analyse an emerging technology against existing legal categories
  • Draft institutional policy where legislation has not yet arrived
  • Advise an ethics committee on a contested intervention

Assessment: Policy paper (100%)

LLM-304

Thesis Preparation Seminar

7 credits

175 hours total workload

Topic definition, research design, source strategy and defence preparation, delivered as a supervised writing seminar.

Course learning outcomes
  • Produce an approved thesis proposal with a full source plan
  • Complete a substantive literature chapter
  • Present and defend a research design before peers

Assessment: Proposal and literature chapter (100%)

Semester 4 — Master's thesis

Independent legal research

30 credits
LLM-400

Master's Thesis and Defence

30 credits

750 hours total workload

A 15,000–20,000 word doctrinal, comparative or empirical thesis on an approved question of medical or health care law.

Course learning outcomes
  • Frame a contested legal question with precision
  • Marshal authority and counter-authority fairly
  • Defend a normative conclusion under examination

Assessment: Thesis (80%) and oral defence (20%)

PDF downloads

Three English documents for this program

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Videos & podcasts

Recorded teaching you can watch and listen to

Sample clip

A look inside a recorded lecture

A short preview of the recording style used across the LL.M. The full library holds 12 video lectures — one masterclass per course plus thesis, assessment and career sessions — released to enrolled students in the study portal.

Podcast series

LL.M Study Sessions

10 audio episodes in English, downloadable for offline listening on the commute — course conversations, thesis guidance and student and alumni panels.

  1. Ep. 1 · Welcome to the Master of Laws26 min
  2. Ep. 2 · How to read academic sources fast31 min
  3. Ep. 3 · LLM-101 in conversation: Comparative Medical Law35 min
  4. Ep. 4 · LLM-102 in conversation: Patient Rights and Informed Consent42 min
  5. Ep. 5 · LLM-103 in conversation: Legal Research Methods25 min
  6. Ep. 6 · LLM-104 in conversation: Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics40 min
  7. Ep. 7 · LLM-201 in conversation: Provider Liability and Medical Negligence26 min
  8. Ep. 8 · Writing the thesis proposal39 min
  9. Ep. 9 · Study, work and family: three students talk42 min
  10. Ep. 10 · Life after the LL.M35 min
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Resource Library

Presentations, templates and study resources

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MCP resources

Study material for AI assistants

The LL.M study material is also published as a machine-readable catalogue, so an AI assistant can read the curriculum, materials, lectures and podcasts directly. Add the endpoint below to any assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol.

Endpointhttps://middlewestuniversity.com/mcp

  • Program profile

    Overview, target audience, learning outcomes, thesis rules, faculty and FAQ.

    get_program { "slug": "llm" }

  • Curriculum

    Every semester and course with credits, workload, outcomes and assessment.

    get_curriculum { "slug": "llm" }

  • Study materials

    Downloadable handbooks and syllabi, readings and slide dossiers.

    list_resources { "slug": "llm", "kind": "pdf" }

  • Videos and podcasts

    Recorded lectures and podcast episodes with durations, hosts and chapters.

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  • Course search

    Keyword search across the courses of all seven programs.

    search_courses { "query": "financial reporting" }

  • Tuition

    Published tuition, instalment plan and what the fee covers.

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How students are graded

Assessment structure

40–60%

Legal opinions and memoranda

Fully cited advisory documents assessed on reasoning and authority handling.

20–40%

Drafting portfolios

Contracts, clauses, policies and pleadings with drafting notes.

0–20%

Oral advocacy

Recorded submissions and research-design defences.

30 credits

Thesis and defence

Independent legal research with an oral defence.

Final independent work

Master's thesis (30 credits)

A 15,000–20,000 word thesis, most commonly doctrinal or comparative. Empirical projects require ethics screening before data collection begins.

  1. Month 1: research question, supervisor allocation, source strategy
  2. Month 2: authority map and literature chapter
  3. Month 3: substantive analysis chapters
  4. Month 4: comparative or empirical component
  5. Month 5: full draft and supervisor feedback
  6. Month 6: submission, similarity check and oral defence

Fees

Tuition and payment

Total tuition

USD USD 6,999

Total tuition for the complete Master of Laws, including all study materials, statute compendia, tutorial consultations, examinations and the thesis defence.

  • Deposit on enrolment: USD 1,399
  • Four semester instalments of USD 1,400
  • No separate examination, material or graduation fees

Tuition is quoted in United States dollars. Payment schedules are agreed in writing with the Student Affairs Office before enrolment.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a law degree?

A law bachelor's degree is the standard route. A non-law bachelor's degree is accepted where the applicant has relevant legal or health care experience.

Is the LL.M a licence to practise law?

No. It is an academic specialisation. Admission to practise is governed by the bar or professional body of your jurisdiction.

Which jurisdictions are covered?

United States federal and state law and European Union law form the comparative core; students may write on other systems with supervisor approval.

How much writing is involved?

Substantial. Nearly all assessment is written legal work, culminating in a 15,000–20,000 word thesis.

Interested in the LL.M?

The Student Affairs Office answers curriculum, admission and enrolment questions in English.

Request information

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