Outline and Boxes on a Blue Blackground

Science, Health, and Information Clinic

  1. Academics
  2. Experiential Learning
  3. Clinics
  4. Science, Health, and Information Clinic

Columbia Law’s Science, Health, and Information Clinic serves the public interest by fighting for—and winning—more equitable access to scientific, technical, and medical knowledge and the benefits that flow from that knowledge.

Note: The Science, Health, and Information Clinic will not be offered in the 2024–2025 academic year.

The Science, Health, and Information Clinic addresses legal needs unmet by public interest legal organizations and other law school clinics. Students, under faculty supervision, provide pro bono legal services to activists and organizers, scientific and medical researchers, patient and consumer groups, nonprofit organizations, and other clients.

The clinic was founded in 2021 by Associate Clinical Professor of Law Chris Morten. He and clinic students have partnered with and represented organizations including Doctors Without Borders, the Open Source Hardware Association, and Public Citizen. The clinic maintains attorney-client relationships with nonprofit, advocacy, and activist groups committed to equitable access to health care, to technology, and to the fruits of scientific research—including Doctors for America, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, PrEP4All, T1International USA, and Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. 

Student Experiences and Outcomes

Students gain rich, hands-on lawyering experience representing clients and develop skills needed to practice in emerging areas of law, science, and technology—areas that are increasingly critical to our economy, our society, and our health. The clinic endeavors to nurture ethical, creative, and independent student attorneys.

Two students with laptops smile in a conference room.

Own Projects

Become your clients’ primary points of contact, and work directly with clients to help them define and achieve their goals.

A student in business attire works on a laptop in Jerome Greene.

Learn to Use an Array of Legal Tools

Work with tools focused on client counseling; research and advocacy to legislators, policymakers, and the broader public; litigation; amicus briefs; petitions and comments to administrative agencies; licenses and other contracts; and Freedom of Information Act requests.

Students seated around conference table listening to speaker

Immerse Yourself in Multiple Doctrines of Law

Explore doctrines of law that shape science, health, and information, including intellectual property law, data privacy law, administrative and regulatory law, health law, and freedom of information law.

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