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Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences

Faculty of Law
 
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The Cambridge Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences (LML), led by Professor Kathleen Liddell (Director) and Dr Jeffrey Skopek (Deputy Director), advances research and teaching on legal and ethical challenges at the forefront of medicine and the life sciences. 

Rapid and prolific scientific advances, alongside changing attitudes towards health, medical care, family structures and related issues, pose some of the most difficult research questions of our era. These include questions about the adequacy of patents to incentivize medical innovation, the nature of informed consent, the allocation of liability for medical wrongs, the scope of privacy rights in electronic health records, the rationing of medical care, the regulation of emerging technologies and the implications of personalized medicine.

In addressing these and many other challenges, LML looks beyond the boundaries of medical law as traditionally conceived. Our members specialise not only in medical law and bioethics, but also in areas such as competition law, family law, human rights, public law, information law, international law and intellectual property.   In addition, many have training in disciplines other than law (including medicine, economics, history and philosophy) and relevant professional experience (including legal practice, private consultancy and civil service).  

The centre’s location in the midst of Europe’s leading biotechnological cluster  presents unparalleled opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations, policy workshops, and conferences aimed at academia, industry, and government.  One of the centre’s core aims is to bridge science and law—to complement the world-class biomedical research being conducted at the School of Clinical MedicineCambridge Biomedical CampusCambridge Science Park, and Cambridge University Health Partners, ensuring that the medical and life sciences develop in responsible and effective ways.

LML works closely with other centres at the Faculty of Law, CANVAS (a network of Cambridge academics in the social sciences and humanities who are interested in biomedicine), the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law at Hong Kong University, and the PHG Foundation.

Alongside research, LML organizes undergraduate and graduate courses that allow Cambridge students to study and conduct their own research in medical and life sciences law.

LML welcomes enquiries from prospective graduate students and visiting scholars. We are also able to undertake consultancies.  Please contact us at: LML@law.cam.ac.uk