The healthcare law specialty has grown exponentially in recent years, especially with the development of the Affordable Care Act and the varied state-level initiatives for implementation. The call for qualified lawyers in the field will only grow as battles over the ACA continue. Here are Law Street’s top ten law schools that provide their students with extensive and holistic educations in Healthcare Law.

Click here for detailed ranking information for each of the Top 10 Law Schools for Healthcare Law, and click here for the methodology used.

Research and analysis done by Law Street’s Law School Rankings team: Anneliese Mahoney, Brittany Alzfan, Erika Bethmann, Matt DeWilde, and Natasha Paulmeno.

Click here for detailed ranking information for each of the Top 10 Law Schools for Healthcare Law.

Featured image courtesy of [UBC Library via Flickr]

Correction 7/9/14: The Top 10 Law Schools for Healthcare Law rankings have been updated to include new information since their release on July 7.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Top 10 Law Schools for Healthcare Law appeared first on Law Street.

Research and analysis done by Law Street’s Law School Rankings team: Anneliese Mahoney, Brittany Alzfan, Erika Bethmann, Matt DeWilde, and Natasha Paulmeno.

Click here to read more coverage on Law Street’s Law School Specialty Rankings 2014.

Click here for information on rankings methodology.

Featured image courtesy of [Charles Paradis via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Top 10 Schools for Healthcare Law: #10 University of Virginia School of Law appeared first on Law Street.

The UVA Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is headed to the Supreme Court next term to defend Anthony D. Elonis, the New York man who posted rap lyrics to Facebook describing how he would kill his estranged wife. (If you’re not familiar with the case, click here to read my take on it.)

The main question in Elonis v. United States centers on First Amendment rights–when do threats made online become true threats, which aren’t protected by the First Amendment? Specifically in Elonis’s case, the court will be examining Facebook statuses in which he posted threatening “rap lyrics.” Select UVA Law students will take a stab at presenting Elonis’s defense.

The UVA Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is a one year program offered to third-year law students. Admitted students earn eight credits through participation, but even more valuable is the experience they gain. Once accepted to the clinic, students actively participate in live cases and must meet high expectations.

Working in teams, students handle actual cases from the seeking of Supreme Court review to briefing on the merits. Classes meet every week to discuss drafts of briefs and other papers students have prepared for submission to the court. Students will be expected to identify candidates for Supreme Court review; draft petitions for certiorari, amicus merits briefs and party merits briefs; and attend mootings and Supreme Court arguments.

In addition to providing invaluable experience to our nation’s future legal force, the UVA Law clinic grants students the opportunity to work on a pivotal case. The Supreme Court will debate whether Elonis’s Facebook posts can actually fall under the category of true threats–meaning that he intended to carry out the actions he wrote about. But Elonis’s lawyers artfully defended his case by stating he was rapping, therefore claiming First Amendment protection.

One of the clinic’s instructors, John P. Elwood, described the case as highly relevant because of our increased reliance on electronic communication. Furthermore, he made the point that electronically communicating with strangers may lead to miscommunication more often. Elwood says the ambiguity surrounding true threats has been a mess since the 2003 Virginia v. Black case, in which the Supreme Court attempted to create more specific guidelines for defining them.

I maintain my opinion, this guy is scary–if I were the ex-wife he had threatened I’d want a sense of security and protection too. There may be UVA students who also sympathize with her, but are defending Elonis with the clinic. Unfortunately for them, as a lawyer you don’t always get to choose who you defend. A lawyer’s duty is to defend her client to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of her personal beliefs. It will be valuable for those students to learn that lesson early, because sometimes it’s a hard pill to swallow. For example, when Hillary Clinton was a court-appointed attorney in 1975, she defended a 41-year-old man who was accused of raping 12-year-old girl. It must have been tough, and her political foes are now using it to attack her, but the important thing is that she did her job as a lawyer. The UVA students may have the opportunity to practice that kind of ethical dilemma when they argue on behalf of Elonis.

Elonis v. United States is the eleventh case the UVA clinic will defend in the Supreme Court since its establishment in 2006. And while the academic and legal experience is highly valuable, one other aspect should not be forgotten–legal ethics. That’s exactly what sets the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic apart from the rest–practicing legal ethics in a pivotal case. These twenty-somethings are in for quite a ride; their participation in our highest court could make history!

The University of Virginia School of Law staff did not comment as of press time.

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Natasha Paulmeno (@natashapaulmeno)

Featured image courtesy of [Mmw3v via English Wikipedia]

Natasha Paulmeno

Natasha Paulmeno is an aspiring PR professional studying at the University of Maryland. She is learning to speak Spanish fluently through travel, music, and school. In her spare time she enjoys Bachata music, playing with her dog, and exploring social media trends. Contact Natasha at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post UVA Law Clinic Takes on Controversial Anthony Elonis Case appeared first on Law Street.

All it takes is one click to create a disaster. That is exactly what happened when Ruth Payne, the University of Virginia School of Law’s Director of Judicial Clerkships, sent out an email attachment last Wednesday containing the personal information of 155 law school students to the school’s clerkship listserv. Payne originally intended to send an email with an attachment of clerkship listings in Maryland. However, after forgetting to attach the clerkship listings in the original email, she hastily sent a followup. Unfortunately for her and the 155 students, she sent the wrong file–instead of sending the clerkship listing, she accidentally sent out a file called the “2015 Applicants Workbook.” It was a spreadsheet containing the students’ GPA’s, class ranks, and other biographical information. Six minutes later, Payne frantically sent a third email ordering the students to delete the previous email and the attached file.

However, the damage had already been done. The entire email listserv now had access to confidential information about themselves and their classmates. While the spreadsheet did not contain any students’ social security numbers or financial information, this incident caused alarm among UVA students–both those affected and those not–that their personal information could so easily be released. According to UVA Law’s Spokeswoman Mary Wood, affected students have been individually contacted and apologized to by the dean and other law school officials. She said, “We are deeply distressed that this mistake occurred, and we are in the process of reviewing our data management procedures to build in more safeguards against unintentional disclosures.” The UVA Law Vice Dean George Geis followed up and sent out another apology email to the affected students. He wrote, “Ruth and I both deeply regret this situation and apologize to all of you, we take the safeguarding of your personal information very seriously and will conduct a full review of our communication practices and our management of confidential student information.”

But how many second chances do they get? This is not the first time that UVA has accidentally released confidential student information to the public. Just last summer, the social security numbers of about 18,700 UVA students were mistakenly included in health insurance brochures that were mailed out nationwide. In December 2012, a handheld device disappeared from UVA’s medical center. It likely contained patients’ personal information and social security numbers. Later that year, about 350 grade transcripts were publicly posted to a UVA website. In 2007, the university discovered that confidential records of about 5,700 current and former faculty members had been hacked. Before that, in 2006, a spreadsheet containing the social security numbers of 632 students was erroneously sent out. While it would be easy to place blame for these security issues on one individual, it is clear that this is a systemic issue that is affecting each of the individual schools at UVA. This seems to be a constant problem for the top university, and it’s clear that major changes need to be made to their security procedures. It’s one thing to say that they’re working on creating safeguards, but it’s another to actually implement them.

In fairness, UVA is not the only school that has had issues like this. In April of 2012, Baylor Law School accidentally sent out admissions information, including names, grades, and LSAT scores, to every single student admitted to the class of 2015. Loyola Law School in Los Angeles sent out an email containing the financial information, including social security numbers and loan amounts, for the entire graduating class in March of 2014.

While there is no guarantee that any real measures will be taken to prevent this type of incident from happening again, hopefully the personnel at UVA will at the very least be a bit more careful when dealing with confidential information.  In his email, George Geis said, “Ruth or I are available if you have any questions or concerns.” I can guarantee you one thing UVA, there will be at least 155 students taking you up on that offer.

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Brittany Alzfan (@BrittanyAlzfan) is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Bob Mical via Flickr]

Brittany Alzfan

Brittany Alzfan is a student at the George Washington University majoring in Criminal Justice. She was a member of Law Street’s founding Law School Rankings team during the summer of 2014. Contact Brittany at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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