With the advent of managed care and the assortment of health care reform bills that have been voted out of Congress recently, healthcare is closing in on becoming an area of legal specialization. Some law schools now teach health law in a program format, with a series of courses available that cover various aspects of the subject. Upon completion of the requisite course hours and field work, the law student is awarded with a Certificate in Health Law to accompany his Juris Doctor on the office wall.

Medical malpractice and insurance disputes have been stalwarts in the legal field for years. A newer area of legal conflict are bioethical issues which, at this point, are equally at home in the legislature as in court. Included in this area are matters such as genetic data privacy, gene- based alterations of agricultural and pharmaceutical products, and a number of medical therapies coming on line. These are public policy issues that are working their way into the courtroom. Related to these issues is the body of law that has grown around the Food and Drug Administration and, among other issues, their administration of drug development.

Individual rights are a legal healthcare issue when in comes to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Access to health care for the poor is a developing civil rights issue, with national advocacy groups in place and classes in law schools addressing the matter as a sole topic. The right to privacy for personal medical records has been a major political and legal concern. The passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) created an entire legal structure for the protection and personal control of an individual’s medical records. But as with every protective measure there are exceptions, and those have led to a small but lively industry of HIPAA inspired lawsuits.

Healthcare delivery and child welfare are occasionally conflicting issues that speak to parental rights and have been fought out in highly publicized trials. Withholding important medical educational information from children has also come before the courts. Public health is a major area of legal specialty, involving state and federal legislation, funding, regulation and healthcare as it relates to taxes.

Managed care issues that are addressed in law school include health care financing, antitrust due to the consolidation of HMOs and equal access. Medicare and Medicaid rights are closely related to managed care, as is the issue of assumed risk for the medical personnel who work for the large and growing healthcare organizations. Fraud and system abuse have also become worthy of legal study since false insurance claims begin to emerge as a substantial problem, involving both patients and the medical community.

At least one law school has an entire course dedicated to e-medicine. Among other things it covers the transmission of medical imaging and pharmaceutical practices: generally the issues are security, privacy and technology. Records transmission and claims transactions are points of discussion within the context of the internet as an active participant in the practice of medicine.

In the criminal justice field, you can earn a bachelor degree in forensic psychology, fraud analysis, or even crime scene examination. These specialties are quickly becoming important roles in law enforcement organizations of every size. Specialists in forensic psychology often find themselves working with the court system as much as with a law enforcement bureau. A degree from one of many criminal justice colleges can help you land a job at a probation department, parole division or as a court investigator. The number and variance of career opportunities in the field of criminal justice today are growing rapidly.

By earning a criminal justice degree with a paralegal concentration you will be able to begin working in a legal profession. There are programs for certificates, associates degrees and bachelors degrees in paralegal studies. Many law firms are willing to hire paralegals with certificates or associates degrees and let them expand their education on the job. However, earning a bachelors degree, through law school, in the paralegal field creates a better opportunity for career advancement because you will be able to take on tasks that would otherwise be given to lawyers. A degree in paralegal studies can be valuable to you, as well as the law firm that employs you.

If you have a nursing background, you can obtain a certificate through an online school that will qualify you to be a forensic nurse, or nurse legal consultant. These are post-RN studies that allow you to consult with legal firms that need medical expertise or research on cases that involve injury to clients or others involved in the case. Legal nurse consultants can develop very lucrative careers. A number of nurses who have retired from clinical work cases have switched to the law office with the help of courses in legal consulting.

Online schools provide extensive educational opportunities in the criminal justice field. Depending on what your specialization is, the levels of study range from certification to PhD. There will always be career opportunities in the criminal justice field because of the growing numbers of criminals entering the system  and also because of the rise of specializations within this field. Enrolling in online criminal justice courses or law enforcement training results in learning your law enforcement certification, which is the first important step to take in this field. These programs allow you to choose whether you want to be certified for the corrections, or private security field. Corrections no longer means working as a prison guard, there’s more to it today, as well as more educational opportunities for training in this field.  You can obtain an associates, bachelors or masters degree in corrections through distance learning. These online courses allow you to earn a degree and work as a security officer, as a corrections administrator or as a departmental manager at the state or federal level.

There are also criminal justice degrees online and online law enforcement schools. Today, some police departments require that police officer recruits have bachelors degrees. Others are merely looking for some higher education with some type of specialization in the criminal justice field, which you can obtain in a distance learning program. Additional training in the classroom is essential for most law enforcement officers who want to move up in rank.  Online schools are perfect for the working police officer who needs to study in order to prepare for the civil service exam for the next level up in rank.