Greetings all--

I've been thinking over the possibility of going back to school to get an LLM in Health Law and Policy, and wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts on transitioning into this field. Just a little bit of background on me: I'm a 2000 grad from a top 15 law school, and I worked for a relatively well respected firm in Austin for 8 straight years. My practice area was general litigation, although I did focus on IP (trademarks/copyrights) in my last 4 years or so of practice. Recently, I was told that the firm's teetering financial health would likely prevent them from making me partner, and honestly, that's fine with me. (The notion of being partner in this firm or any firm soured for me 2 years ago.) However, I don't want to stagnate, and would like to take this signal to move forward with a different path in my career. I've always had a keen interest in health care law and policy (I took a few courses in the topic in both undergrad and law school), and my interest has been further sharpened in my discussions with my sister regarding her current educational path in the public health master's program at UNC-Chapel Hill. In a nutshell, that's what's drawn me to the possibility of going to get an LLM in Health Law and Policy, and U of Houston's program is quite attractive to me. But at the same time, the practical (and naysaying) side of me wonders if this would end up being a waste of time at this stage in my career (i.e., I wouldnt be able to find a job after I was done with the program), because I did not really handle a lot of health care/health law matters in the past 8 years, and I didnt have an earlier career in healthcare. Does anyone have any insights on transitioning into this field through an LLM? Would an additional year of focused undergrad classes before starting the LLM help in any way (for example, make me seem more serious about the transition, etc.)? What is the job market like for a Health Policy LLM grad?

Any thoughts from you guys would be a huge help, and I appreciate it tremendously. Best of luck to everyone,

BigO