School of Social Sciences

Healthcare Ethics and Law LLM

Year of entry: 2026

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 months Part-Time

About the course

Should artificial intelligence be used in healthcare screenings? Why is the right to death controversial? How do governments around the world view abortion?

Our LLM in Healthcare Ethics and Law gives you the skills you need to critically analyse a variety of ethical and legal issues within the medical field. Go beyond the theory with a problem-based approach, applying bioethical and legal concepts to real-world scenarios.

You’ll take an interdisciplinary approach to explore how healthcare practice and policies around the world are shaped by various ethical and legal principles. Better yet, this course is designed for graduates from any background. You don’t need a law degree to study this course, making it ideal for healthcare professionals, lawyers, policy advisors or anyone working in related fields. As a student, you will be guided by our diverse academic experts who have research links with overseas organisations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and a number of legal authorities and international skills. Throughout your studies, you'll benefit from opportunities to practice and develop your skills, giving you expertise within the subject, and transferable strengths suitable for a range of other careers.

See the full course profile on our website >

Benefit from our first-class facilities, including a purpose-built moot court where you can practically develop your skills

Join a university with a strong heritage of providing legal education since 1872, where graduates include Dame Christabel Pankhurst and Lord Stephens, the current Justice of the UK Supreme court

Graduate from one of the UK’s most targeted universities by top employers with the skills needed for a meaningful career

(High Fliers, The Graduate Market Report 2025)

Compulsory Units

Dissertation by Independent Research;
Philosophical Bioethics;
Medico-Legal Problems.

Optional Units

Mental Health Law and Policy;
Research Ethics;
Ethics and Genetics and Genomics;
Research Methods and Methodologies for Bioethics and Law;
Philosophy of Law;
Medicine Law and Society.

These are examples of units offered in 2024/25 and are subject to change.

See the full list of units and find out more on the full course profile >

Where will your course take you?

Today's turbulent world is in increasing need of graduates with unparalleled expertise on legal issues within the medical field. Our courses allow you to develop a variety of both subject-specific and transferable skills suited to a wide variety of roles, such as critical thinking, legal analysis, research, problem-solving and communication.

Most of our recent graduates have gone on to work with leading organisations such as government agencies, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, law firms, public policy, multinational corporations, the army, and at top universities, with job titles such as Civil Servant, Senior Legal Counsel, International Lawyer, Consultant, and Researcher.

Many graduates also continue their research by studying a PhD in Law, either at Manchester or at another leading university, where they expand the boundaries of our knowledge and pursue careers in research or academia.

Nancy Evans

Healthcare Ethics and Law Graduate

"My student experience was thoroughly positive. My tutors were highly supportive, and I enjoyed being able to discuss opinions with other members of the course who come from a number of different backgrounds."