Tailor your MSL to your career goals by selecting elective courses from the options below, public policy offerings, or other approved law courses with guidance from your academic advisor.

Health Law

This course is an introduction to the U.S. health care system and public policies and laws that impact both health care providers and consumers of health care. Topics covered include federal and state regulation of hospitals, physicians and managed care organizations; standards of care and medical malpractice; privacy and -confidentiality; informed consent; access to care and federal/state reform proposals; public and private financing of health care; forms of health care enterprises, and end of life issues.

Legislatures & Lawmaking

This online asynchronous course explores legislative institutions and lawmaking processes in state and federal government, as well as basic principles of judicial review of legislative action. It provides opportunities to develop practical skills such as drafting statutory language, preparing and assessing bill analyses, commenting on legislation, and participating in the legislative process.

The Executive Branch & The Administrative State

This online course explores regulatory institutions and processes at the state and federal levels, focusing on the relationship between the executive branch, the legislature, and the courts. It provides opportunities to develop practical skills such as drafting regulations and participating in the regulatory process, including commenting on agency action and responding to comments. The focus is on understanding the policy’s role and methods for marshalling and assessing technical information.

Government Law & Policymaking

This online asynchronous course introduces students to the lawyer’s role in developing, modifying, implementing, advocating, and influencing public policy, including: legislation, regulations, executive orders, court orders, and other policy edicts at the national, state, and local levels. Students learn how to do policy analysis; learn the essential organization and procedures of the various policymaking venues; are able to consider and weigh strategic implications associated with the various venues and processes; conduct research using a variety of sources unique to policymaking in other federal and state settings; learn and develop skills for advocacy, negotiation and compromise in a policymaking setting; and practice applying course knowledge and skills to important public policy matters of the day. Students complete a project on an actual and current public policy problem.

Leadership in Organizations

This online asynchronous course explores skills necessary for professional competency and excellence in twenty-first-century organizations. It emphasizes working in and with public agencies. Topics covered may include organizational teams, cross-cultural dynamics, professional work products and communications, and professional ethics. Focus is given to case studies and practical exercises.

Persuasive Public Speaking

This online course introduces students to the many aspects of persuasive public speaking, including content, word choice, and delivery. Students study the persuasion theory through reference to historical and social science sources. Students develop public speaking confidence by practicing their skills and receiving constructive feedback. This course is substantially asynchronous; students meet synchronously online for 12.5 hours over five days, specific dates/times in the syllabus.

Mental Health & Policy

The course explore the legal implications of mental health policies and their impact on healthcare providers and patients.

Bioethics & Public Health

This course examines the developing area of Bioethics, considering legal topics such as assisted reproduction, wrongful conception/birth/life, and death and dying. The course also provides an introduction to legal issues emerging in the field of Public Health. The focus of the course varies from year to year depending on emerging medical/legal/ethical issues and also depending on whether the course is taught in the one, two, or three-unit format.

Elder Law & Social Policy

This course introduces students to the broad range of legal and policy issues and options affecting older persons. Topics covered include the demographics of aging; special ethical issues when representing the elderly; Social Security, SSI, Veteran’s benefits and private retirement income plans; financing health care through Medicare, Medi-Cal and the VA; housing options and long term care; the definition of legal incapacity and planning for incapacity; end of life decision making; and elder abuse. Students join UCD Medical students for joint, interdisciplinary classes. (Practicum).

Mediation

This course provides functional knowledge of the power and practice of mediation, which is increasingly being used to resolve both litigated and non-litigated disputes. Mediation employs a natural third party, the mediator, to help disputing parties make better decisions concerning whether and how to settle a dispute. This course examines the theoretical, legal, ethical, and practical aspects of mediation through lecture, discussion, video simulations and extensive interactive exercises and role-plays. Students will learn to conduct mediations in step-by-step process. This course also covers how to represent a client effectively in mediation and explores appropriate applications of mediation. Enrollment limit. (Simulation).

Contract Drafting

In this course, students will learn the drafting process’s fundamental contract concepts. They will learn how to draft contracts that effectively deliver the parties’ expectations and manage their risks intentionally, as well as their remedies.

Lobbying & Politics

This course explores how power and influence operate in state legislatures. The first part of the course examines the processes and pressures a legislator typically encounters before casting a vote in the Legislature, including campaigns for local and state office, fundraising, the influence of political parties and partisan leadership, grassroots supporters, and local-based interests. The second part of the course develops theories of legislative persuasion, including a blend of traditional advocacy skills and political strategy.

Negotiations

This course examines the theoretical, ethical, and practical skills essential to effectively advocating legal dispute negotiations. Students learn negotiation skills through lectures, discussions, video simulations, and extensive interactive exercises and role-plays. Students are introduced to negotiation tools and techniques that enhance negotiation success. This course helps students identify strengths and weaknesses in their negotiating style. This course is primarily asynchronous; students negotiate synchronously online several times during the semester, detailed in the syllabus.

Directed Research

This course provides the opportunity for students to engage in a comprehensive individual research project under the supervision of a full-time faculty member. The work product may take the form of a scholarly paper, empirical study, analysis of topical readings, or other creative format that demonstrates in-depth legal research and original analysis.

Master’s Thesis

This course provides an opportunity for students to write a thesis under the guidance of a full-time faculty member acting as supervisor. The thesis should present an original idea or ideas, demonstrate mastery of research skills appropriate to the field, and be analytical and/or critical, as opposed to merely descriptive. The final product should exemplify high quality academic writing consistent with the professional goals of the student, taking into account the supervisor’s and the student’s vision of the desired target audience for the product.