The University of Maryland (UMD) Francis King Carey School of Law has added two new specialties, crisis management and cybersecurity, to their Masters of Law (LL.M.) program. The specialties were designed in conjunction with UMD’s Center for Health and Homeland Security (CHHS).
The UMD School of Law offers the LL.M. program in order to provide lawyers and law students with greater knowledge in one specific area of the law. Current specialties include business law, constitutional law, health law, international and comparative law and environmental law.
CHHS is a non-profit consulting group that assists emergency responders in developing plans for emergency preparedness. It works with both government and private institutions. As a part of the new LL.M. specialties, law students will be able to get real-world experience at CHHS in the areas of homeland security and counterterrorism.
CHHS started providing courses at UMD School of Law in 2002 with the inaugural course “Homeland Security and the Law of Counterterrorism.” Since then, more courses have been introduced, namely, Law and Policy of Emergency Public Health Response; Law and Policy of Cybersecurity; Law and Policy of Crisis Management; and National Security, Electronic Surveillance and Bulk Data Collection: The Withering of the Fourth Amendment.
A class on cybercrimes will also commence soon. These courses are taught by law school faculty as well as faculty from CHHS. The new LL.M. programs will be available starting this fall.
Also newly available will be a Master of Science in Law (MSL) degree designed for engineers, scientists and other professionals who need legal knowledge to benefit their careers. The MSL program will include many of the same specialties as the LL.M., including crisis management and cybersecurity. These specialties will also be taught by CHHS faculty.
Michael Greenberger, director of CHHS and a professor at the law school, sees the expansion of the LL.M. program as providing new and exciting opportunities for lawyers, while at the same time offering courses that will become necessary in a world where cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important.
“More and more our clients are seeking legal professionals who have in-depth knowledge of law and policy surrounding crisis management and cybersecurity,” Greenberger said in a statement. “These are both areas that will continue to grow along with the need to prepare for and respond to natural and man-made disasters.”
A 2015 white paper prepared for the Indiana University Maurer School of Law by Hanover Research provided evidence of this trend. It found hiring lawyers with knowledge of cybersecurity laws and concerns is a growing priority for law firms.
“The state of Maryland has attracted some of our country’s most important homeland and cybersecurity businesses and government agencies,” Donald Tobin, the dean of the UM School of Law, said in a statement. “We are delighted that lawyers from around the world will now have the opportunity to draw on the extraordinary talent and knowledge that Professor Greenberger has assembled at CHHS and our law school.”
