The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the Mayo Medical School have joined together to offer Mayo students a special opportunity to earn both an M.D. degree and a Juris Doctor (or J.D. degree) in a combined program.
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What is a J.D.?
A J.D. degree is the basic law degree offered by American law schools. A J.D. is required for admission to the State Bars, the predicate to being permitted to practice law in the various states of the United States.
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How does the combined program work?
The M.D. program requires four years of full time study. The J.D. program pursued by law students requires three-years of full time study. In the combined M.D.-J.D. program, the Mayo students will study at both Mayo and the College in a synergistic program that will spread their learning of medicine and the law over six years.
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Why will it take one year less to get the combined degrees than each separately?
Because the College of Law will accept a portion of the credit hours required for a J.D. from courses completed at Medical School.
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What if I want to study the law but don’t want a J.D.?
The College also offers a Masters of Legal Studies (or M.L.S.) for students who don’t want to be lawyers but do want to learn about specific areas of the law for use in their professions. The M.L.S. program requires one year of study and the completion of 30 credit hours. A specific curriculum will be designed for each student that meets his or her interests and needs.
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Why the College of Law at Arizona State?
The College of Law is an academically serious and innovative law school with a student/teacher ratio of less than 10 to 1, the second lowest in the United States (only Yale University’s law school ratio is lower). The faculty has a long and rich tradition of high quality teaching. A vast number hold post-graduate degrees in a wide array of sciences. This concentration on science is further evidenced by the fact that the College is home to the Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology
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What is the Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology?
The Center for the Study of Law, Science, and Technology is the nation’s largest and oldest multidisciplinary research center focusing on the legal implications of new scientific discoveries and emerging technologies. The Center anticipates issues raised by new knowledge, stimulates dialogue between legal and scientific experts and conducts research that promotes the legal community’s engagement with scientific and technological developments. The unique breadth of faculty expertise within the College of Law, twenty-seven of whom are affiliated with the Center, supports course offerings in a broad range of law, science, and technology subjects of potential interest to medical students, such as health law, public health, bioethics, genetics and the law, biotechnology, intellectual property, environmental law and Indian health policy.
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What are the admissions requirements?
Applicants must be admitted to the Mayo Medical School M.D. program and be in good standing. In addition, applicants must take the standard Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and meet other general University admissions requirements.
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What will the program cost?
Mayo students will be considered Arizona residents for purposes of determining tuition. Program fees, when applicable, are the responsibility of the student. Students should refer to Mayo Medical School’s Academic Leave of Absence Policy for information regarding health benefits. Full-time resident tuition for the 2004-2005 academic year is approximately $12,379. Students may apply for the Mayo Academic Enrichment Scholarship for tuition assistance. Scholarships from the College of Law may also be available.
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What are the mandatory courses of study for M.D.-J.D. students?
M.D.-J.D. students will be required to take the customary core law school curriculum, which includes the mandatory courses listed below during the first and second years. In the second year, students are required to take Professional Responsibility (3 credit hours) and Constitutional Law II (4 credit hours) or Criminal Procedure (3 credit hours).
Administrative Law - Administrative process, emphasizing nature of powers exercised by administrative agencies of government, problems of procedure, and scope of judicial review.
Bioethics and the Law - Includes such topics as decision making at the end of life, procreative freedom and reproductive technologies and organ transplantation, and most recently, cloning and stem cell research.
Biomedical Research Ethics and Law - Examines legal and ethical issues associated with medical research.
Biotechnology: Science, Law & Policy - Legal and policy exploration of agricultural and pharmaceutical biotechnology.
Biotechnology and Intellectual Property – An explanation of the unique intellectual property issues relevant to biomedical research and products.
Controversies in Biotechnology, Health & Developing Countries - Intellectual property and regulatory issues relating to the translation of biomedical research into products that meet health needs, especially the needs of the poor in developing countries.
Evidence - Principles and practice governing the competency of witnesses and presentation of evidence, including the rules of exclusion and roles of lawyer, judge, and jury under the adversary system.
FDA Regulation of Drugs, Devices and Biologics – An overview of the various regulatory requirements and procedures of the Food and Drug Administration for drugs, medical devices and biologics (e.g. vaccines).
Family Law - Legal and nonlegal problems that an individual may encounter because of a situation as a family member.
Genetics and the Law - Exploration of legal and ethical consequences and issues associated with genetic advances, including forensic uses of DNA, genetic privacy and confidentiality, genetic discrimination in employment and insurance, genetic screening, gene therapy and genetic enhancement, pharmacogenomics, stem cell and tissue culture research, cloning, patenting and licensing of genetic technology.
Health Law - Access to and utilization of health care, which involves the study of how our society finances and organizes health care and of various mechanisms for the delivery of services; and health care quality and liability, which tends to focus on the clinical relationship between patient and doctor (e.g., medical malpractice, informed consent, and licensure law).
Indian Health Policy - focuses on the role and impact of economic development on health status in Native American communities as well as the role of traditional Native American medicine in the modern healthcare system; issues related to tribal sovereignty and self-determination on health programming will also be explored.
Intellectual Property Law - Overview of intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, unfair competition, and trade secrets.
Law & Psychology - Analysis of the various ways psychological information is used in the law.
Law, Science, and Technology - Legal mechanisms used in dealing with various issues raised by contemporary science and technology. Explores current legal responses to science and technology.
Mass Tort Litigation - Examines unique procedural and substantive issues that arise in mass tort litigation.
Mental Health Law - explores a wide range of issues in mental health law including therapeutic jurisprudence; civil commitment, guardianship, and involuntary treatment; criminal prosecution and sentencing of the mentally ill; employment and housing discrimination on the basis of mental illness; access to social services and benefits by the mentally ill; and the differential treatment of physical versus mental disabilities.
Patent Law - In-depth examination of substantive patent law as it applies to the commercialization and enforcement of patent rights.
Products Liability - Traces the development of products liability law; analyzes the major issues currently confronting the courts in this area. Seminar.
Public Health Law - Explores legal and policy aspects of the relationship between the state and the population's health.
