Arthur Birmingham LaFrance
Professor of Law

Specialty Areas & Course Descriptions

Bioethics, Health Delivery Systems, Health, Policy Seminar

Academic Credentials

B.A. with honor, Dartmouth College
J.D., Yale Law School

Professional Background

Professor LaFrance came to the law school as Dean in 1982 from the University of Maine, having previously served on the law faculty of Arizona State University. He has taught and published in the fields of constitutional law, criminal procedure, bioethics, and healthcare delivery. In 1979-80 he was a visiting scholar for the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii; he has also been a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow, Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, Houston University,the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and, most recently, he was the George Rudolph Distinguished scholar at the University of Wyoming. At each institution, LaFrance taught Bioethics. LaFrance served as a circuit judge pro tempore and has served on the national accrediting committee of the Association of American Law Schools. He writes in the areas of healthlaw, bioethics, and health policy. He has lectured to legal and medical audiences on bioethics, where he has published the only casebook for law school teaching, and has been a lecturer at ALI/ABA and ASLME Healthlaw conferences. Professor LaFrance has been active with the Oregon State Bar, especially the Healthlaw Section, where he has served on the Legislative Committee and as an Editor of the Oregon Healthlaw Manual. Professor LaFrance represents litigants pro bono in public interest litigation concerning healthcare issues, including the multi-state tobacco settlement, public hospital mergers, and Blue Cross for profit conversions, and most recently submitted an Amicus Brief on behalf of two dozen healthlaw professors before The United States Supreme Court, in support of Oregon's physician-assisted death statute. He has served as the Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Center on Health, Law and Policy, and volunteers twice monthly with Legal Services of Oregon, providing indigent legal services to seniors on the Oregon Coast.

Professor LaFrance is an avid cyclist, a mediocre tennis player, and a self-confessed ineffectual flyfisherman.