Home Law School News New masters programs in law to be offered this fall

New masters programs in law to be offered this fall

Law School News
2009-04-202017-10-13

Drake University Law School recently established Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Jurisprudence (M.J.) programs in Intellectual Property Law, Health Law and Individualized Studies. Open to both domestic and international students, the program will commence in fall 2009. Students may enroll on a full-time or part-time basis.

The LL.M. degree is an internationally recognized postgraduate law degree aimed at lawyers and recently graduated law students. The M.J. degree is specially designed for non-lawyers, such as doctoral students in other disciplines, policymakers, government officials, business executives, doctors, scientists, journalists, health care professionals, intellectual property agents and computer programmers.
Students enrolled in the LL.M./M.J. Programs will be able to select from a wide variety of courses in the specialized areas of agricultural, health and intellectual property laws as well as in human rights and international and comparative law. Students also will be able to participate in a rich array of co-curricular activities, including lectures, symposia, externships, student organizations and faculty-supervised research.
To provide flexibility, the Law School offers an LL.M./M.J. in Individualized Studies, which allows students to fashion a curriculum that fits their professional goals and career objectives. The degree is ideal for students who seek an advanced curriculum that facilitates their transition to practice or for foreign lawyers-students who seek a grounding in American law.
“Intellectual property law is one of the fastest-growing areas of today’s legal practice,” said Peter K. Yu, the Kern family chair in intellectual property law and the founding director of the Intellectual Property Law Center at Drake University Law School.
“These new programs will enable students to be better prepared for their professional needs and to develop more satisfactory and financially rewarding careers,” he added. Yu is a leading expert in international intellectual property and communications law and has directed other leading intellectual property law programs in the country.
The LL.M./M.J. Program in Health Law will further strengthen the Law School’s offerings in the health law and policy area. The program is directed by Professor Stacey
Tovino, a leading expert in health care law, bioethics and medical humanities and the director of the Law School’s Health Law and Policy Center. Tovino holds a PhD in Medical Humanities with distinction from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Institute for Medical Humanities.
In March, Drake University Law School announced a partnership with Des Moines University that offers joint Juris Doctorate/Master of Health Care Administration (J.D./M.H.A.) and Juris Doctorate/Master of Public Health (J.D./M.P.H.) degrees.
In addition, the LL.M./M.J. in Individualized Studies boasts a curriculum that includes the: (1) Human Rights and Global Citizenship and (2) Sustainable Economic Development.
“The LL.M. in Sustainable Economic Development will provide students with an important opportunity to study how the law is helping society advance the goals of sustainability,” said Neil Hamilton, the Dwight D. Opperman chair of law and director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University Law School.
“Law will play a critical role in this area, whether through emerging trends in the economy, through new opportunities in energy production such as wind or in how we design livable communities or produce food,” added Hamilton, a leading national authority on the role of law in shaping agriculture and the food system.
The new LL.M./M.J. programs build upon the Law School’s strong joint degree programs. It includes a joint J.D.-LL.M. option that allows Drake students to credit up to nine J.D. credits toward the 24 credits required for the LL.M.
The Law School also offers joint programs that allow students to earn an undergraduate degree and a law degree in six years, as well as joint degree programs that combine graduate degrees in several fields with a law degree.
The addition of the LL.M./M.J. degrees to the curriculum helps further the Law School’s commitment to providing an exceptional learning environment that integrates legal theory and the development of professional skills and the ideals of ethics and professionalism.
For general inquiries, contact Professor Hunter Clark at (515) 271-2063 or hunter.clark@drake.edu.
For more specific inquiries, contact the director of each LL.M./M.J. program or concentration: