History: Bridging Health Science and Law

The University of California, Hastings College of the Law was founded in 1878 as the first law school in the University of California public university system and is one of the most exciting and vibrant legal education centers in the nation. As one of the top-rated law schools, UC Hastings regularly organizes lectures, symposia and law school clinics for the general public. Education and public service are critical components of the UC Hastings mission. The centers, clinics and consortium work in cutting-edge areas of the law and provide opportunities for students and practitioners to work together. UC Hastings faculty and center staffs share their results with the legal community through special programs, events, and reports, and provide direct legal education and services through their law school clinics.

Since its founding in 1873, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is the only UC campus devoted solely to health science. UCSF's four schools (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy) consistently rate at or near the top in education, research, patient care, and NIH funding support. Patients travel from across California, the US and the globe for care at UCSF's medical center, and the university's four major campuses and affiliations with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Department of Veteran's Affairs make it the second largest employer in the city. UCSF counts service, education, community, and diversity among its central values.

The UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium was conceived as a comprehensive effort to develop collaborative opportunities between UCSF and UC Hastings. Today, lawyers, scientists, and health care professionals operate largely insulated from one another, both in their formal training and their daily practice. Yet, increasingly, the demands of modern law and health care require a more sophisticated understanding of the other's form and function. In short, lawyers and health care professionals can no longer continue to work in isolation; they must be well-versed in each other's vocabulary and practice. The Consortium was founded on this vision.

After extensive discussion between faculty and administrators at both institutions, the Consortium is developing collaborations on several fronts. The Consortium identified three overlapping domains as defining its basic mission: Education, Research, and Service.