A Qualitative Study of the Promises and Perils of Medical-Legal Partnerships

Abstract

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) allow the health care system to address health-harming legal needs (HHLNs) by integrating legal services with health care services. MLPs’ structures and operations vary tremendously. Accordingly, the attorneys, physicians, social workers, and other professionals participating in MLPs can offer instructive insights to those developing new MLPs or restructuring existing partnerships. This Article presents key findings of qualitative interviews with a range of professionals participating in MLPs. Informed by the frontline experiences of these professionals, the Article provides a richer understanding of some of the strategic decision points facing those establishing or modifying an MLP, including the factors that influence a medical and legal partners’ operational and structural decisions. The Article also highlights concerns and difficulties MLPs encounter and various strategies for overcoming some of these challenges. Finally, the Article’s findings illuminate the debate on whether current legal and ethical rules–rules developed for a world where medical and legal professions operated in separate silos–make sense for settings that integrate health care and legal services.