Seton Hall Law School offers a Master of Science in Jurisprudence (M.S.J.) degree in Health, Science & Technology Law. The M.S.J. program provides professionals working in health care, information technology, telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology with a solid foundation in the legal and regulatory aspects of these industries.

The M.S.J. is unique in that it provides a rigorous grounding in the law for students who do not want to become lawyers, but who, instead, want to use the law to enhance their effectiveness and marketability in a non-legal career.  Combining this degree with their professional experiences, M.S.J. graduates have numerous opportunities available to them.  Alumni work in a broad spectrum of positions as compliance officers, contract analysts, healthcare administrators, nurse managers, patent/trademark assistants, pharmaceutical financial analysts, quality assurance managers, supervisors, clinical operations directors, and lobbyists.  Applicants who are unsure which degree is best for them may wish to attend a Law School Open House or make an appointment with either J.D. Admissions or the Assistant Dean of Health, Science & Technology to discuss their goals and objectives.  (See Special Events.)

Students may not transfer credits from the M.S.J. Program into the J.D. Program if they decide after starting the program that they wish to pursue the J.D. degree instead.  However, students transferring from a J.D. Program into the Seton Hall Law School M.S.J. Program may request that their transcript be evaluated.  Credits may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

Admission

Candidates seeking admission to the M.S.J. Program must have at least a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university, or the foreign equivalent. The admissions committee prefers candidates who have professional experience in the health, technology, pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries. Decisions are based on quality of undergraduate performance, ability to do superior work, and above-average writing skills.  Candidates are not required to take pre-admission tests such as the LSAT, GRE or GMAT.    

Enrollment in the program commences each year at the end of May with a summer class: The Legal System, Research and Writing, followed by a full course of study beginning in the fall.  Students who do not successfully complete the summer course may not continue in the program. 

Candidates interested in applying to the M.S.J. program should contact the Health Law and Policy Program at (973) 642-8871 and request an application and current tuition rates.  See our Special Events page for details regarding our free community lectures, open houses, and informational sessions.  The application deadline for the 2008 M.S.J. program has been extended until April 30, 2008.  Classes begin on May 28, 2008.  An application fee of $60 is required with the application.

Course of Study

The M.S.J. candidate must complete 30 credit hours of course work at the Law School. The M.S.J. candidate’s curriculum is substantially made up of required courses. The program begins each summer with a four-credit course that orients the M.S.J. student to the tools of legal reasoning.   In the fall, students take an additional three-credit course in legal writing and analysis and also take a three-credit business survey course. 

Upon completion of the second semester in the program, candidates must decide to follow the health law track, the intellectual property track, or to pursue both tracks simultaneously. The health law track focuses on legal, regulatory and ethical issues related to health care organization and the medical profession. The intellectual property track focuses on legal, regulatory and ethical issues related to research science, information technology, and telecommunications. 

M.S.J. students may also take the Health Care Compliance Certification Program as a 1-credit course.  This four-day program takes place twice a year:  during the spring semester break and in June of each year.  To register for this program, students should select the Health Care Compliance Certification Program as a course when they register for their spring or summer courses. They should not register through the Compliance Web page.   A complete description of this program may be found at:
http://law.shu.edu/administration/special_programs/hcc_certification/index.htm.  

Sample Part-time M.S.J. Schedules

There are three ways Seton Hall Law School students take exams:

1. Seton Hall offers a limited number of traditional in-class exams.  All students in a particular class take the exam at one time.
    

2. In most classes with less than 35 students, Seton Hall has "self-scheduled" exams which allow students some flexibility in terms of when they will take their final exams within the Law School's final exam period.  First offered in the Spring 2006 semester, this option is intended to make it easier for students to manage more than one final exam.  These exams are taken here at the Law School and students must register in advance for specific exam sessions.  During each exam session, students from different classes will be taking different exams in one classroom. 
   Self-scheduled exam policy
    

3. The third kind of exam is the web-based take-home exam.  These exams may be taken anywhere. These are not "self-scheduled" like the exam listed above, although they offer some flexibility within the time frame set by the professor, so it feels like it's self-scheduled for that reason.  A professor will indicate if the exam is to be taken within a 24-, 36-, or 48-hour time frame.  He/she will then indicate the days/weeks within which the exam may be taken.  A professor might say that you can download the exam anytime from May 3 until May 10, for example, and that you will have 24 hours to complete it.  Once you download the exam, you must upload your answers within the time period set by the professor.  Professors may lower your grade substantially for every hour or day that it is late.  If you complete a take-home exam on the weekend or late at night and you are worried you didn't do it right, please send the file to Law_Registrar@shu.edu or Dean Bavero (baveroga@shu.edu) via email as a backup.  Other than this, please do not open the exam that you submitted until you are sure it was received.  In the off chance that your exam cannot be read or something went wrong**, our IT staff will need the original document that was submitted through SecureExam.  If you have questions or concerns, do not contact your professor; please contact Dean Bavero at baveroga@shu.edu.

Take-home exam policy

**(A confirmation is automatically generated by SecureExam but it only indicates a file was received.  If, for example, a student accidentally submitted the exam questions and not the answers, or they submitted the answers for the wrong exam because they took two take-home finals, they would receive a confirmation.  This is what we mean by something "going wrong" and why it's important to leave the original exam unopened.)

All students are expected to take their exams following the guidelines established above. For exceptions, please see Examination Emergencies.   

M.S.J. students are graded on a three-point system: High Pass (HP), Pass (P), Low Pass (LP), and Fail (F). The majority of students receive Passes in most of their courses, with High Pass and Low Pass grades reserved for students whose performance is significantly stronger or weaker than the average class performance.

M.S.J. students do not receive a GPA. Each student’s transcript lists the grade received in each course. 

The three-point system may be equated with the following traditional grades: 
A- or higher equals HP
B or B+ equals P
B- or lower equals LP
F equals "Fail"

Academic Standing

M.S.J. students are expected to achieve Passes in most of their courses.   Students who receive three grades of Low Pass that are not offset by grades of High Pass will not be eligible to graduate.  For example, a student who receives three Low Passes and no High Passes will not be eligible to graduate, but a student who receives four Low Passes and two High Passes would be eligible, since the two High Passes would cancel out two of the Low Passes.  For purposes of this policy, a High Pass will cancel out a Low Pass even if the number of credits in the two courses are different. 

Students with five grades of High Pass that are not offset by grades of Low Pass will graduate with Honors from the M.S.J. Program.  Thus, a student could graduate with honors with five High Passes and no Low Passes, six High Passes and one Low Pass, seven High Passes and two Low Passes, etc.

To Request Information / How to Apply

Prospective students may request information for the M.S.J. program by clicking on the following link or calling (973) 642-8871: MSJ Inquiry

To apply online, please complete the following form: MSJ Application

If you have questions or have trouble completing the application, please contact Helen A. Cummings, Administrator of Graduate Programs at (973) 642-8380 or cumminhe@shu.edu.

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The M.S.J. Organization is a student-run organization that actively seeks to promote social, networking, and career opportunities for students and graduates of the M.S.J. program.  Established in 2006, the M.S.J. Organization recently obtained approval from Seton Hall Law School's Student Bar Association to be an active, participating student association. The Organization hosts speakers from industry and nonprofit organizations who consider professional knowledge of health and/or intellectual property law an asset.  The Organization welcomes participation from all students at Seton Hall Law School and is open to any suggestion towards furthering its goal of ensuring a participatory educational experience for M.S.J. students.

Special events are posted on the Health Law & Policy and Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology special events calendars.  

For further information, please contact the M.S.J. Organization President, Katherine Fung, at fungkath@shu.edu.  

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