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
01Compare and apply United States and European rules governing medical practice and health data
02Draft a reasoned legal opinion on provider liability with authority citations
03Design a compliance programme that maps to identified statutory duties
04Negotiate and redline commercial agreements for health care institutions
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
Instruction letters, scope discipline and cross-examination survival.
Slide deck
Regulating Clinical Algorithms
49 slides · Policy deck
Existing categories, gaps and the drafting of interim institutional policy.
Template
Regulatory Correspondence Samples
Released in the study portal
Anonymised first responses, self-disclosures and remediation plans.
Video lecture
Secondary Use of Clinical Data for Research
45 min · Faculty of Medical Law
Consent, exemptions and the anonymisation threshold under both regimes.
PDF documents are free to download in English. Presentations, recorded lectures, readings, cases, datasets and templates are released inside the study portal at the start of each course window and remain available to enrolled students for the duration of the program.
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.
Month 1: research question, supervisor allocation, source strategy
Month 2: authority map and literature chapter
Month 3: substantive analysis chapters
Month 4: comparative or empirical component
Month 5: full draft and supervisor feedback
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.