Health Justice Project
Educating and Advocating for Health Equity
The Health Justice Project (HJP) is an interprofessional law school clinic housed within the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Since its inception in 2010, the HJP has collaborated with health care providers to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable patients by providing free civil legal services and engaging in upstream policy work. The HJP utilizes the medical-legal partnership (MLP) model to embed legal advocacy in health care settings and facilitate collaboration between advocates and health care providers to identify and resolve social and legal issues that negatively affect the health of patients. As part of the HJP Clinic, law, medical, and social work students work together under the supervision of clinical faculty and supervising attorneys to advocate for people living in poverty and people with disabilities to address health-harming social and legal needs and to combat systemic barriers to good health and well-being.
On February 1, 2021, the HJP launched a new collaboration with Loyola Medicine and Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine called the Maywood MLP, extending its reach to the near western suburbs of Chicago. The Maywood MLP serves vulnerable patients through an on-site presence at Loyola Medicine Maywood–Roosevelt Road, an outpatient clinic in Maywood, Illinois, and by accepting referrals for legal and social services from Loyola Medicine’s Family Medicine Department and outpatient clinics. During its first five years of operation, the Maywood MLP project has received over 377 referrals and provided support to over 200 Loyola Medicine patients obtaining benefits totaling over $300,000. Students enrolled in the HJP Clinic play a vital role in the Maywood MLP and gain valuable hands-on experience representing clients on a range of legal issues impacting their health and well-being. Students conduct intakes to assess the social and legal needs of patients, research the relevant legal issues, gather social supports and resources, and provide advice and counseling or full representation, including engaging in advocacy in front of administrative agencies or in courts.
Hands-on experience
Students enrolled in the Health Justice Project Clinic course may be involved in advocacy in a variety of ways including outreach and education for medical partners and community members, developing resources for patients and providers, policy advocacy, and direct legal services to patients. Practice areas vary each semester depending on the issues identified by our health partners through referrals but may include public benefits, access to health care, disability, housing, utilities, medical debt, family law, education, immigration, and other areas of law that impact the health and well-being of clients. Law students enrolled in the clinic will be the lead counsel on their cases and work with social work and medical student partners to advocate for their clients’ social and legal needs.
Students will learn critical lawyering skills through a combination of a seminar class, intensive case supervision, collaboration with HJP’s partner organizations, and engagement in the practice of law. The HJP offers a part-time and full-time clinic opportunity for students in their 2L, 3L, or 4L years.
Other Interprofessional and Experiential Learning Opportunities offered by the Health Justice Project
The Health Justice Project also offers several other courses that provide students the opportunity to engage in interprofessional collaboration and learning and to gain exposure to health justice and equity issues.
Access to Health Care
This course explores the role of racism in the construction of the health care system and public health insurance systems in the United States. The course is intended to expose students to historical perspectives on the impact of racism on our health system, allow for an understanding of how health care and insurance systems work in present day and continue to result in health inequities, and to prepare students to advocate for systems’ change to create more equitable health care systems and address health inequities in our society. A significant component of the course is participation in an immersive field study to Mississippi during spring break. This course is a prospective elective offered to 1L, 2L, 3L, and 4L students.
Weekend Program Opportunities
The Health Justice Project also offers two weekend experiential learning opportunities, the Health Justice Practicum and the Health Justice Policy Practicum. These courses provide opportunities to Loyola Law weekend students to engage in direct client services and policy work guided by experts in medical-legal partnerships and health access and equity from leading Chicago-based advocacy programs.
Real-world work, real-world impact
Through the Health Justice Project, students serve vulnerable clients and get life-changing results
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Contact Us
Philip H. Corboy Law Center
25 E. Pearson St., Suite 714
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Phone: 312.915.6470
Toll-Free: 1.800.424.4839
healthjustice@luc.edu