Top Law Schools

Hello,

I'm an MD that's been thinking hard about getting my JD. I'm older and have been practicing for several years out of residency. Do you think there is a niche or demand for MD, JD outside of academics? Anyone known any, what they typically contribute to a group, and/or earnings?

Thanks!
Ben

LegalDoc wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:18 pm

Hello,

I'm an MD that's been thinking hard about getting my JD. I'm older and have been practicing for several years out of residency. Do you think there is a niche or demand for MD, JD outside of academics? Anyone known any, what they typically contribute to a group, and/or earnings?

Thanks!
Ben

There may be a limited niche in hospital administration or the expert witness circuit, but as a general matter you are going to be either a doctor or a lawyer. Keep in mind that to have any semblance of what you are likely earning in medicine, you'd need to do biglaw (and go to a school that gives you a high chance of getting biglaw). The hours in biglaw may be similar to residency.

I would think a JD/MD could do well in the niche of medical malpractice (defense is probably more lucrative than plaintiff’s work). I think it’s hard to estimate earnings because it would depend on your market and size of firm. Anecdotally, the local firms that do this in my small legal market are well respected and considered well paying, but there aren’t many and I don’t know what that actually translates to for pay (my market has very little traditional biglaw and salaries are consequently much lower overall than in most major cities).

To be clear, no one needs an MD to do such work - most medical malpractice lawyers won’t have one - and you would be doing legal work and hiring experts to produce reports/testify on the medical stuff; you can’t be a lawyer and a witness in the same case. But I think it gives you an advantage in understanding medical reports/jargon and handling expert medical witnesses, that kind of thing (same way a science PhD can be advantageous in intellectual property work).

I get that there are reasons to want to leave medicine, but why do you want to get a JD?

nixy wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 17, 2022 3:15 pm

I get that there are reasons to want to leave medicine, but why do you want to get a JD?

Thanks for the advice nealrick and nixy.

Why get a JD? Its a long story that has evolved over years, but the short is that the practices that I see evolving on a industry-wide scale are... not ok. Not even remotely ok. I won't go into details. The pandemic has accentuated the problem.

Its probably a safe assumption that individuals that pursue medicine are on average more... 'idealistic' than those that pursue law, but, that need to 'up hold morals' still predominates a lot of our thinking. I'm thinking of putting myself in a position to directly oppose the practices I'm seeing in the most impactful way possible.

Seems like it would take someone from the inside to really understand the trends and problems.

Ben

A number of MD-JD's are psychiatrists who go into forensic psychiatry. By your description, I assume you are not a psychiatrist though.

psy1 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 12, 2022 3:49 pm

A number of MD-JD's are psychiatrists who go into forensic psychiatry. By your description, I assume you are not a psychiatrist though.

Interesting, is this mostly criminal defense?

Dan Broderick, who was famously murdered by his wife Betty Broderick in 1989, had an MD from Cornell and a JD from Harvard and was earning over $1mm per year at the time of his death as a solo medical malpractice attorney in San Diego.

He credited his medical training with being able to find the most lucrative potential cases among the many submitted to him.

Dirty John Season 2 on Netflix dramatizes the murder.

I do plaintiff-side medical malpractice and encounter JD-MDs from time to time. Most do plaintiff-side and/or expert work, as both are far more lucrative than med-mal defense.

You could do really well as a Plaintiff's side personal injury attorney. Being able to better understand and explain the injuries would set you apart from your peers, and the M.D. could be huge in marketing towards clients.

FDA / Regulatory practice also has a place for doctor-lawyers. This area touches medical devices, pharma, healthcare, cosmetics, food, etc. These groups often do advisory, litigation and transactional work (as opposed to only litigation).