Medical-Legal Partnership: A Powerful Tool for Public Health and Health Justice

Abstract

A medical-legal partnership (MLP) is a collaboration between a health care organization and a public interest law organization to address health-harming social needs that have civil law remedies. We contend that MLPs can operate at both the individual and population levels. We begin by providing a brief overview of MLPs and then turn to a discussion of MLPs as a public health law intervention. Finally, we describe opportunities for collaboration among MLPs, public health lawyers, and public health practitioners.

Note:
Funding Information: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Interests: The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler serves as a consultant to the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership, and Joel Teitelbaum is the co-director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership.