#1 Best Value Private Law School Archives - College of Law

#1 Best Value Private Law School

TU Law professor published in world’s top medical journal

Matt Lamkin is an associate professor of law at TU Law.

Should doctors be asked to report to health insurers when patients aren’t following their treatment plans?  Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine – the top medical journal in the world – TU College of Law Associate Professor Matt Lamkin addresses workplace “wellness” programs that tie the cost of employees’ insurance to their health behaviors. Under these insurance plans, employees with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure can see their insurance costs rise by thousands of dollars if they fail to follow their doctors’ instructions. Lamkin writes that although these programs seek to reduce health care costs by improving employees’ health – both of which are worthy goals – they can also come with hidden costs.

“Requiring physicians to report their patients’ noncompliance to insurers can threaten the trust that a productive doctor-patient relationship depends on,” Lamkin said.  “If a patient knows that a negative report from her physician will cause her insurance costs to skyrocket, she may be less honest with her doctor about her health behaviors.”

Professor Lamkin joined The University of Tulsa College of Law in 2013.  Prior to entering academia, he served as a policy advisor to the mayor of Indianapolis, an attorney at one of the world’s largest law firms and a fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Law and the Biosciences.

You can read the article, “Physician as Double Agent: Conflicting Duties Arising from Employer-Sponsored Wellness Programs,” at the New England Journal of Medicine.

Law students partner with Energy Bar Association to produce Energy Law Journal

The latest issue of The Energy Law Journal (ELJ), produced by students at The University of Tulsa College of Law and members of The Energy Bar Association, is now available online. It includes an article written by a TU College of Law student Taylor Moult titled, “Haphazard Federal Rulemaking Meets Judicial Review: Ballast Water Regulation Receives No Deference to Agency Interpretation.”

ELJ is a peer-reviewed legal publication that provides insightful, thought-provoking, relevant commentary on current issues involving federal and state regulatory and energy topics. Contributors include leading practitioners, key officials of federal and state regulatory agencies, federal judges and scholars.

Read the latest Energy Law Journal here.

According to Robert Butkin, law professor and director of the Sustainable Energy and Resource Law (SERL) program at TU, recent topics have included national and international energy and environmental policy, legal and regulatory issues, the relationship between federal and state regulatory systems and new developments in the regulation of oil and gas production in oil-producing states.

Created by the Energy Bar Association (EBA) and first published in 1980, ELJ’s readership includes more than 2,000 subscribers, who are leading practitioners, policymakers and academics from all other the world. The journal is published twice a year.

In 1986, a partnership was established between ELJ’s governing board and The University of Tulsa College of Law under which TU law students edit the publication. This successful partnership, now spanning more than three decades, has enabled hundreds of TU Law students to work closely with leading practitioners and government officials in the energy industry and has exposed students to cutting-edge policy and legal issues.

Learn more about TU Law’s two journals here.

The EBA board sets high standards for inclusion in the journal; and in the last five years, 13 TU law students have had articles selected for publication — a testament to their high-caliber work. The ELJ professional editors contribute to the students’ understanding by presenting at an annual workshop on energy law and policy for incoming ELJ members, and the professional board also provides funding to enable an ELJ student to serve as an intern on the staff of a congressman or senator who serves on an energy or environmental committee.

Students who have served on the journal have pursued successful career paths in the fields of energy and environmental law.  Recent ELJ alumni include an attorney with a major independent oil company in Tulsa, the director of energy policy with the National Association of Manufacturers, an assistant attorney general of Oklahoma working in the fields of energy and public utility regulation, and a staff attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. This academic year, 25 2L (second year) law students have elected to join the ELJ which is more than one-fourth of the entire class.