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Brietta R. Clark

Brietta Clark
Brietta R. Clark, Fritz B. Burns Dean of LMU Loyola Law School and Professor of Law

Fritz B. Burns Dean, LMU Loyola Law School
Professor of Law

Courses Taught

  • Health Law Survey
  • Health Care Access Seminar
  • Reproductive Justice
  • Bioethics and the Law
  • Torts

Links

Education

  • BA, University of Chicago
  • JD, University of Southern California, Order of the Coif

Background

Brietta Clark was appointed Fritz B. Burns Dean of LMU Loyola Law School on June 1, 2024, following her service as interim dean and senior vice president.

Clark, a nationally recognized expert in health law, has used her extensive experience to elevate the law school’s curriculum, guide students and alumni on their career paths, and influence the public discourse via her scholarship, public service, and media commentary. The 19th dean of Loyola Law School, Clark is one of five authors on the ninth edition of “Health Law,” the leading health law casebook in American law schools. She has taught health law-related courses to law students, bioethics master’s students, and undergraduates.

Since joining the law school faculty in 2001, Clark has served in numerous leadership roles, including as Associate Dean for Faculty from 2015-20. She was recently awarded the 2023 David P. Leonard Faculty Service Award by the St. Thomas More Society. She has received recognition for her mentorship by the school’s Black Law Students Association, the Judge Stephen O’Neil Trial Advocacy Mentoring Program (“Young Lawyers Program”), and the Health Law & Bioethics Student Association. Additionally, she participated in the AJCU Ignatian Colleagues Program for leaders in Jesuit higher education.

Throughout her career, Clark’s research and public service has focused on inequity in the U.S. healthcare delivery and financing system – especially its effects on vulnerable populations. She has written and provided testimony about the role that law can play in shaping healthcare access and quality, exploring the causes of unequal access and treatment and offering potential solutions. She has assisted legal organizations working to preserve access to essential healthcare services that are at risk because of hospital mergers or closures in underserved communities, discriminatory coverage exclusions, or inadequate provider networks. She has also provided community education related to national health reform and health-related state initiatives.

Early in her career, Clark helped draft ethical and legal pain management guidelines for physicians during her service on the Los Angeles County Medical Association-Bar Association Joint Committee on Bioethics. She served on the Institutional Review Board for Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles. She also served as a volunteer attorney with the HIV/AIDS Legal Services Alliance.

Before joining the LLS community, Clark worked in the Los Angeles office of Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood, specializing in health care transactions and regulatory compliance. As a law student, Clark volunteered with the National Health Law Program, which nurtured her interest in Medicaid access and protecting safety-net hospitals in underserved communities. Clark earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from USC Law School, where she was also a post-graduate redisearch fellow. 

In addition to her connections with the LLS community, the activities that spark the greatest joy for Dean Clark include spending time with family, dancing, traveling, nature walks, and getting lost in a good story.

Public Service

  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Member of the Foundation of the Board of Trustees and the Advocacy Committee, Nov. 2023 – present; Committee on Clinical Investigations, 2007 – 2008.
  • Testimony on “Health Care Inequity & COVID-19 Disparities” before the Delaware State Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights (Oct. 12, 2021).
  • Amicus Curiae Brief of Health Law Scholars, King v. Christie (3d Cir. Mar. 6, 2014) (Case No. 13-5038).
  • Amicus Curiae Brief of Health Law Scholars, Pickup v. Brown and Welch v. Brown (9th Cir. Feb. 6, 2013) (Case Nos. 12-17681, 13-15023).
  • Consultation with various legal organizations on health care regulatory matters such as hospital mergers, discriminatory coverage exclusions, and network adequacy in health plans.
  • American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Board Member, Jan. 2021 – present, Member of the Health Law Scholars Nominating Committee, Jan. 2021 – present.
  • LACMA-LACBA Joint Committee on Biomedical Ethics (January 2006-2012); Served on the writing committee for pain management guidelines (Avoiding Problems With Pain Management:  Ethical and Legal Guidelines for Physicians, 2012).
  • Law School Admissions Council - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Issues Subcommittee (Chair, 2007 - 2009; Member, 2005 - 2007); Services and Programs Committee (Member, October 2003 - 2005)
  • California Hospital Medical Center, Institutional Review Board (2001 - 2006)
  • Health Law Section Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2003 - 2010, past Chair)
  • American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Board Member & Member of Medical Legal Rights Committee (2006-2011)
  • HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance, Board Member & Member of Medical-Legal Partnership Advisory Committee (2007-2011) 

Recent Commentaries

Selected Scholarship