Top Law Schools

Hello!

I wanted to ask if anyone knows the process of becoming legal counsel for a hospital. I figured it would be similar to obtaining a position as an in-house counsel to any other corporation since most hospitals are privately owned. But then I'm thinking it could be drastically different due to the higher standards of ethics to which doctors are held.

Here's a posting for it: http://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=7ed2 ... &from=serp

zot1 wrote:Here's a posting for it: http://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=7ed2 ... &from=serp

That posting is for a specialized vendor firm (transfusion medicine) serving hospitals. Seems to be more of a generalist position. I do know a few people who work in-house but their roles vary based on size of hospital and scope of service. One is pretty much a full-time lobbyist representing the chain re: state/federal government issues. Kind of a cool gig.

snowball2 wrote:

zot1 wrote:Here's a posting for it: http://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=7ed2 ... &from=serp

That posting is for a specialized vendor firm (transfusion medicine) serving hospitals. Seems to be more of a generalist position. I do know a few people who work in-house but their roles vary based on size of hospital and scope of service. One is pretty much a full-time lobbyist representing the chain re: state/federal government issues. Kind of a cool gig.

My point wasn't to say this is how they all work, but an example of it. Mostly, I wanted OP to realize he could look for such postings to get a good idea of what's needed. I didn't write more because I was being lazy, but look how that worked out for me.

zot1 wrote:

snowball2 wrote:

zot1 wrote:Here's a posting for it: http://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=7ed2 ... &from=serp

That posting is for a specialized vendor firm (transfusion medicine) serving hospitals. Seems to be more of a generalist position. I do know a few people who work in-house but their roles vary based on size of hospital and scope of service. One is pretty much a full-time lobbyist representing the chain re: state/federal government issues. Kind of a cool gig.

My point wasn't to say this is how they all work, but an example of it. Mostly, I wanted OP to realize he could look for such postings to get a good idea of what's needed. I didn't write more because I was being lazy, but look how that worked out for me.

Thank you for both! I'm trying to narrow down specifically what position, but since I've never seen anyone even mention it in the 9 months I've been on this forum I thought I'd just bring up the idea.

I thought about it only recently since I'm leaning towards Emory and theyre the dominant healthcare service in Atl (and my sister is a doctor).

pleasesendhelp wrote: I thought about it only recently since I'm leaning towards Emory and theyre the dominant healthcare service in Atl (and my sister is a doctor).

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Are you referring to Emory Law having a high-ranked health law program in the specialty rankings? Or are you referring to Emory actually being one of the major hospital systems in Atlanta? Whichever it is, those aren't particularly good reasons to start planning on such a focused career, especially if you didn't particularly have an interest in that career track before deciding on a school.

cavalier1138 wrote:

pleasesendhelp wrote: I thought about it only recently since I'm leaning towards Emory and theyre the dominant healthcare service in Atl (and my sister is a doctor).

I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Are you referring to Emory Law having a high-ranked health law program in the specialty rankings? Or are you referring to Emory actually being one of the major hospital systems in Atlanta? Whichever it is, those aren't particularly good reasons to start planning on such a focused career, especially if you didn't particularly have an interest in that career track before deciding on a school.

The latter. I figure I explore the possibilities early on since I keep seeing that the job market for lawyers in Atl is very insular and is a lot more influenced by connections rather than solely based on school performance. Most of my connections are involved in medicine, or real estate, so I'd be a fool not to ask about it. I also know that there's a 99% chance I'll change my mind in law school, or more likely the choice will be made for me by what's actually available when I'm looking for employment.

Contact the gen counsel's office for some of the hospital chains that are similar to what you are thinking (university-level hospitals, from how it sounds). Ask whether they have a summer program for law students, and whether they hire straight out of law school. I know a couple people who were hired into the UChicago hospitals, but they summered there, and also completed a grad certificate in health administration and policy (actually, it was through the grad cert program that they were able to summer at the hospital - search "uchicago GPHAP" if curious).

Most of my friends who work as general counsel for hospitals did so after working in a Biglaw health law firm in either a compliance or Trans/Reg role. Going in-house to Emory Med or a peer healthcare institute is not likely to happen without past relevant work experience. Happy to peel back the layers of health law further if you want.

Most of these positions are filled by lawyers from firms. Bear in mind though that there are plenty of small rural hospitals that will rely on smaller regional firms, so it's not necessarily all biglaw.

Litigation folks might come from a med-mal practice group at a firm, or they may have worked in insurance defense. The transnational stuff is much more like regular in-house work in a regulated field.

Typically though, the all the in-house folk touched on healthcare in their firm position or are bringing a specialized skill to the hospital to fill a need (e.g. real estate or supply chain experience). A small number of hospitals do recruit new and/or recent grads where health law experience in school is more relevant.