Joint Degree in Law and Public Health

Degree Requirements and Structure of Coursework

• Structure of Coursework

  The J.D./M.P.H. offers an intensive course of study to be completed in three academic years.

• First Year

  Joint degree students begin their program by enrolling first (and exclusively) at HLS and completing the first-year HLS curriculum:

  • The required first-year courses: Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Legislation and Regulation, Property, and Torts;
  • The January Experiential Term;
  • First-Year Legal Research and Writing, which includes the First-Year Ames Moot Court Program; and
  • A spring upper-level elective course of a minimum of two (2) and a maximum of four (4) HLS law classroom credits.
• Upper-Level Years

  In the second and third years of the program, students take courses at both the Harvard Chan School and HLS. During this time, students will need to complete a number of graduation requirements and a minimum of 52 upper-level credits, including:

  • Minimum of 36 HLS credits;
  • Experiential Learning Requirement;
  • International and Comparative Law Course Requirement
  • D. Written Work Requirement
  • Negotiation/Leadership Requirement
  • Professional Responsibility Requirement; and
  • Pro Bono Requirement

  Students may choose to take a heavier M.P.H.-credited semester during their first fall semester at the Harvard Chan School to accommodate more M.P.H. required core coursework. Students may also choose to take a heavier HLS-credited upper-level semester at HLS to accommodate the demands of particular activities (e.g., clinical work, job search). Students will still need to enroll in a minimum of four (4) credits consisting of HLS classroom credits or clinical work that qualifies for experiential learning credit each semester to meet minimum residency requirements in accord with ABA regulations. Students should make appointments to meet with Betsy DiPardo, Director for Student Academic Affairs (bdipardo@law.harvard.edu) to go over HLS degree requirements, and Steve Bearden (sbeardon@hsph.harvard.edu), Senior Associate Registrar at the Harvard Chan School to go over HSPH degree requirements, before the fall term of the second and third years of the joint degree program.

  When beginning the M.P.H. degree during the fall semester of the second year, students should take at least 25 credits, including the required M.P.H. public health core curriculum. The MPH public health core curriculum is comprised of a school-wide, pre-matriculation course, ID 100: Foundations for Public Health; the biostatistics and epidemiology core; and five (5) courses (MPH 101 – MPH 105) in other foundational public health areas (see most recent MPH-45 Curriculum Guide).

  In the third year, students complete the Applied Practice Experience and the Integrative Learning Experience required for the M.P.H. program. Some students may elect to complete the field portion of their M.P.H. practicum requirement in conjunction with their J.D. Written Work Requirement, the HLS Health Law Clinic, or through an approved job in the summer prior to their third year. If receiving compensation for the M.P.H. practicum, students cannot count this work toward their J.D. requirements (see Section I(L)(6) of the HLS Handbook of Academic Policies). Students should meet with Stacey King (seking@hsph.harvard.edu), Director of Field Education and Practice at the Harvard Chan School, during their second year to discuss arrangements for the required field practice and coursework. Students interested in exploring how their enrollment and participation in the HLS Health Law Clinic may be used to satisfy the M.P.H. practicum requirement should reach out to and meet with Professor Carmel Shachar (cshachar@law.harvard.edu) at HLS.

• Course and Credit Requirements

  Harvard Law School

  In addition to credits earned during the first year, HLS requirements for the second and third years include completion of at least 52 total upper-level credits (subject to the requirements set forth in the most recent HLS Handbook of Academic Policies) as follows:

  • A minimum of 36 credits in HLS classroom work ( includes courses, seminars, and reading groups). HLS classroom courses taken in fulfillment of the Professional Responsibility requirement, the International Comparative Law Course Requirement, and the Negotiation/Leadership Requirement count toward this minimum.
  • At least 16 additional credits, up to 12 of which may come from qualifying coursework at the Harvard Chan School (converted into HLS credits toward the J.D. based on ABA regulations*), and the remaining earned by completing written, clinical, or additional classroom work at HLS.

  In addition, all J.D./M.P.H. students must maintain HLS residency requirements during their 2L and 3L years, which consist of the fall, winter, and spring terms:

  • Required minimum of HLS Law School classroom credits and/or clinical work that qualifies for experiential learning credit per semester: four (4).

  • Required minimum total HLS plus Harvard Chan School converted (based on ABA regulations*) credits per semester: ten (10).
  • Required minimum total HLS plus Harvard Chan School converted credits per year: 24.

  It is recommended that students spread their HLS required credits evenly over their upper-level semesters. All joint degree students must enroll in the HLS Winter Term during each upper-level year. (J.D./M.P.H. students are not expected to enroll in Harvard Chan School courses during Winter Session.)

  Harvard Chan School

  At least 45 credits are required for the M.P.H. degree, which includes satisfaction of the Council on Education for Public Health’s 12 Foundational Public Health Knowledge learning objectives and 22 MPH Foundational Competencies, as well as the Applied Practice Experience, the Integrative Learning Experience, and the Global Health or Health Policy field of study-specific requirements (see most recent MPH-45 Curriculum Guide).

  At least 35 credits must appear on the Harvard Chan transcript. Of those credits, 22.5 must be taken for an ordinal grade.

• Double-Counting Credits

  J.D./M.P.H. students may double-count up to 10 HLS credits at the Harvard Chan School and up to 12 converted* upper-level credits at HLS. The rules for double-counting credits are set forth in J.D./M.P.H. Credit Requirements and in the appendix to this program description.

  *Per ABA regulations, cross-registration credits will be awarded for every 720 minutes of lecture hour/mandatory class time. Please note, in most cases, we are not able to round up when determining credits. For example, if a course meets for 2,000 minutes, in most cases, you may only receive 2 credits. It is important to note that there are exceptions to the 720 minute rule. For example, FAS language courses are limited to a max of 3 credits, and intensive language courses are limited to a max of 4 credits. Additionally, studio and field courses are limited to a max of 2 credits. Other exceptions deemed appropriate by the HLS Registrar’s Office may apply.

• Other Program Requirements

  Integrating the J.D. Written Work Requirement and the M.P.H. Applied Practice Experience and Integrative Learning Experience Requirements

  For the J.D. degree, students must complete the HLS J.D. Written Work Requirement, which consists of the (1) analytical paper, including required faculty and peer review written feedback, and (2) professional paper. For more information on the J.D. Written Work Requirement, consult the HLS Handbook of Academic Policies.

  For the MPH-45 degree, students must complete a required Applied Practice Experience and an Integrative Learning Experience. These requirements are satisfied by enrolling in classroom-based course(s) (GHP 945 and GHP 530 for students in the Global Health field of study and HPM 945 for students in the Health Policy field of study) and completing a practicum.

  Joint degree students may choose to integrate the practicum work with their law studies or their summer work in several ways:

  (1) By designing an integrated written project as described below;

  (2) By selecting an approved job experience for the summer after their second year in which they will engage in work that meets the requirements for the M.P.H. practicum;

  (3) Through enrollment and participation in the HLS Health Law and Policy Clinic.

  Please note that if receiving compensation for the M.P.H. practicum work, students will not be able to count the work toward their J.D. requirements. Students should meet with Stacey King (seking@hsph.harvard.edu), Director of Field Education and Practice at the Harvard Chan School, and Betsy DiPardo (bdipardo@law.harvard.edu), Director for Student Academic Affairs at HLS, early in their second year to discuss their options and any related time-sensitive requirements.

  Students may complete the HLS J.D. Written Work Requirement’s analytical paper component and the Harvard Chan School’s Applied Practice Experience requirement in one integrated project. Integrated projects must involve both a substantial writing component that satisfies the HLS analytical paper requirements and a substantial experiential component. The amount of time required to complete an integrated project will approximate the amount of time that would be required to satisfy the two requirements separately.

  Proposals for integrated projects must be approved by Professor Carmel Shachar at HLS and Professor Ameet Sarpatwari at the Harvard Chan School prior to undertaking the work and must satisfy the criteria for both the J.D. Written Work Requirement’s analytical paper component and the M.P.H. Applied Practice Experience requirement. Even with an approved integrated project, students must still enroll in the required Applied Practice and Integrative Learning Experience course(s) (GHP 945 and GHP 530 for Global Health and HPM 945 for Health Policy).

• Q: How many credits can I count toward both degrees?

  A: Students may double-count credits in the following ways:

  1. Up to 5 Harvard Chan School credits from classes taught at HLS (on any subject) may be counted toward the M.P.H. degree.

  Example: Jim Student registers at HLS for an Administrative Law class for 4 HLS credits and asks the Harvard Chan School Registrar to apply this as 5 credits toward his M.P.H. degree. This will appear on Jim’s Harvard Chan transcript as a 5-credit course.

  2. Up to 5 Harvard Chan School credits from an approved list of health law classes taught at HLS may be counted toward the M.P.H. degree.

  If students earn additional credits in these courses beyond that number, they may count those credits toward the requirements for the J.D. degree, but not both degrees. Because the courses may have overlapping content, students must obtain approval from their Harvard Chan faculty advisor for the credits/courses that they intend to count toward both degrees. Courses offerings vary from year to year. For the 2025-2026 academic year, the eligible health law courses include (but are not limited to) the courses listed below. For other health law courses not on this list, students must obtain approval from the faculty co-directors. Students should consult the HLS Course Catalog for the meeting times of the eligible health law courses.

   

  Course Number	Title	HLS Credits
  HLS 2091	Food and Drug Law	3
  HLS 2293	Drug Product Liability Litigation	2 or 3 credits
  HLS 2359	Food Law and Policy	2 per semester; register for one or both
  HLS 2497	Public Health Law and Policy	2 per semester; register for one
  HLS 2652	Health Law, Policy, Bioethics, and Biotechnology Workshop	2
  HLS 2989	Health Care Rights in the Twenty-First Century	2
  HLS 8033	Health Law and Policy Clinic of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation	3,4, or 5 credits per semester

  Example: Jim receives permission from his Harvard Chan faculty advisor to count Health Law toward his M.P.H. degree as 5 credits, in addition to the 4 credits he will receive at HLS. Jim registers for this course at HLS. Since Jim also plans to apply the 5 credits from his Administrative Law class toward his MPH, his Harvard Chan transcript at the time of graduation will need to show (at a minimum) 35 credits taken at the Harvard Chan School.

  3. Up to 12 converted credits from courses taken at the Harvard Chan School may be counted toward the upper-level credit requirement for the J.D. degree at HLS.

  Example: Jane registers at the Harvard Chan School in a course that meets for 90 minutes twice per week for 6 weeks; this course will convert to 1 HLS credit.

• Q: I read in the Harvard Chan School Student Handbook that Harvard Chan students can count up to 10 cross-registration credits per semester toward their MPH. Does this rule apply to J.D./M.P.H. students?

  A:  No, a special rule concerning cross-registration credits applies to J.D./M.P.H. students. They receive the 5 Harvard Chan School credits for HLS classes under Rule A.1. above and may count 5 additional cross-registration credits toward their M.P.H. degree only if they do not intend to double-count any of the health law courses listed above under Rule A.3. If health law courses are double-counted, the 5 additional possible cross-registration credits are proportionately reduced.

  Example: Jim becomes interested in a class on Science, Technology and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. This course is equivalent to 5 Harvard Chan School credits. If Jim had not been planning to double-count any of the eligible HLS health law classes, he could apply the Kennedy School course credits fully toward his M.P.H. However, Jim’s plan is to apply the 5 credits from Health Law as well as the 5 credits from his Administrative Law class toward his M.P.H. This brings him to 10 credits from courses taught outside the Harvard Chan School, so the Kennedy School class cannot also count toward his M.P.H. Jim decides not to ask the Harvard Chan School Registrar to count the 5 credits from the Health Law class toward his M.P.H., and instead plans to count the 5 credits from the Kennedy School course. Health Law will still count toward his HLS classroom credit requirement.

• Q. Can I cross-register for courses at other Harvard schools (e.g., Harvard Kennedy School) and apply those credits toward my J.D.?

  A. Not without special permission. J.D./M.P.H. students can receive up to 12 converted* credits from qualifying M.P.H. coursework toward the J.D. as part of their joint degree program; therefore, if approved to enroll in a cross-registered course, it is likely that the credits will not count towards the J.D. degree requirements but will be additional upper-level credits.

  This will be assessed and determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on current credit conversions and counts. Please contact the HLS Registrar’s Office (registrar@law.harvard.edu) to discuss further.

  *Per ABA regulations, cross-registration credits will be awarded for every 720 minutes of lecture hour/mandatory class time. Please note, in most cases, we are not able to round up when determining credits. For example, if a course meets for 2,000 minutes, in most cases, you may only receive 2 credits. It is important to note that there are exceptions to the 720 minute rule. For example, FAS language courses are limited to a max of 3 credits, and intensive language courses are limited to a max of 4 credits. Additionally, studio and field courses are limited to a max of 2 credits. Other exceptions deemed appropriate by the HLS Registrar’s Office may apply.