Jones Day Adds 6 Partners

Jones Day Adds Six Partners to Health Care & Life Sciences Practice in Washington and Columbus

Washington DC – June 4, 2014 -- The global law firm Jones Day announced today that it has added six partners to its Health Care & Life Sciences Practice. Joining in Columbus later this month will be David Grauer, Lisa Han, and John Kirsner. All three will arrive from the Columbus office of the firm formerly known as Squire Sanders (now Squire Patton Boggs). Joining in Washington later this month will be Scott Edelstein (from Squire Sanders’ Washington office). In addition, Laura Laemmle-Weidenfeld has joined Jones Day’s Washington office from the firm formerly known as Patton Boggs LLP (now also Squire Patton Boggs), as has Laurie Clarke, from King & Spalding’s Washington office. With these additions, a total of 15 new partners will have joined the Jones Day’s Health Care & Life Sciences Practice since March of last year.

"We're extremely pleased to welcome these six outstanding lawyers to Jones Day," said James Dutro, co-head of the Firm's Health Care & Life Sciences practice. "The ongoing reformation of the health care system in the US, along with its expansion of services have created significant opportunities and challenges for both companies and health organizations. This team's depth of knowledge and experience in a range of transactional, regulatory, and dispute contexts adds significant depth to our strong Health Care & Life Sciences Practice, and demonstrates our commitment and capability to serve the increasingly complex needs of our clients.”

Columbus

Mr. Grauer, who chaired his former firm’s Healthcare Practice Group, has advised health care institutions on a broad range of complex transactions and matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, national and regional provider and payor networks, clinically integrated networks and accountable care organizations, managed care and bundled payment negotiations, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, fraud and abuse issues, and professional and business licensure matters. Trained as a pharmacist, and with more than five years’ experience in hospital department and operations management, Mr. Grauer brings his health care clients a particularly well-informed perspective, and deep healthcare industry experience in representing hospital systems, financial institutions, post-acute care providers (home healthcare, hospice and retail and specialty pharmacies), large long-term care providers and large medical groups in sophisticated business transactions. Mr. Grauer has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2005, named an Ohio Super Lawyer each year since 2006, and is recognized in Chambers USA for his healthcare work. He earned his J.D. from Capital University, an M.S. and M.B.A. from The Ohio State University, and a B.S. from the University of Kansas. 

Ms. Han leads and counsels on complex transactions including mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings, and advises on regulatory and transactional matters for clients in the health care and health insurance industries. She advises clients on matters such as formation of risk or clinically integrated provider networks and accountable car organizations (ACOs), formation and regulatory, and transaction and compliance for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans, provider-owned health plans. Ms. Han has deep experience with regard to compliance with the Affordable Care Act, insurance holding company and affiliate transactions, investment compliance, corporate governance, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures and alliance, product development for health insurance marketplace, pharmacy benefits management, insurance support services, and regulatory approvals in connection with insurance transactions of all kinds, including change of control, affiliate transactions, reinsurance transactions. She also provides counseling on complex managed care contract negotiation and drafting. Ms. Han earned her J.D. from The Ohio State University, her LL.M. from University of Pennsylvania, and her LL.B. from National Chengchi University.

Mr. Kirsner represents hospitals, physician groups and organizations, long-term care organizations, provider networks and managed care organizations regarding provider-payer contracting issues. His extensive contracting, transactional and compliance work with these providers and networks includes mergers and acquisitions, joint venturing, messenger model strategies, pay-for-performance contracting, creating clinically integrated networks and all aspects of provider-payer contracting. Mr. Kirsner's managed care experience includes network formation, negotiation of joint venture relationships, managed care contracting and an emphasis on managed care insolvency issues such as bankruptcy, liquidation and workout arrangements. He is frequent speaker at national, regional, and local conferences relating to managed care and other health law issues. This year alone he was the keynote speaker at The Network Contracting Congress ("The Network Participation Imperative: To Participate or Not to Participate"), and a featured speaker at the Advanced Institute for Anesthesia Practice Management ("ACOs: What Anesthesiologists Need to Know"). Mr. Kirsner has also published a number of articles and been quoted in publications such as Modern Healthcare on related managed care topics. He is a past chair of the Ohio State Bar Association’s Health Care Law Committee. Mr. Kirsner has been listed every year since 2007 in The Best Lawyers in America for healthcare law and insurance law, and named an Ohio Super Lawyer each year since 2006. He earned his J.D. from The Ohio State University with honors, and his B.A. from the University of Michigan. 

"Adding Dave, Lisa, and John is an exciting development for both our already strong health care capabilities in Columbus, and our general growth over the last 16 months ... five partners have joined us in that time span,” said Liza Kessler, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Columbus Office. "Along with Tom Dutton, one of the top health care transactional lawyers in the country, and Kevin Lyles, a leading voice in the areas of outsourcing, and privacy and data security who co-chairs the Jones Day's Outsourcing and Privacy & Data Security practices, we are now among the largest health care practices in Ohio."  

Washington

Ms. Weidenfeld defends clients against civil and criminal government investigations and litigation relating to allegations of fraud and abuse, particularly under the civil False Claims Act and in the health care and life sciences industries. She has defended against such investigations brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ), including United States Attorneys Offices throughout the country, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General, state attorneys general and other state and federal agencies. Ms. Weidenfeld also counsels her clients on compliance-related issues, providing health care fraud and abuse regulatory guidance and helping to establish effective corporate compliance programs. In addition, she frequently helps clients analyze requirements for and prepare submissions of self-disclosures, to various federal and state agency components. She has represented a broad range of health care providers and manufacturers, including home health care agencies, clinical laboratories, individual physicians, hospitals and health systems, ambulance providers, behavioral health providers and durable medical equipment (DME) providers, as well as major pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. A former Trial Attorney in the Frauds Section of the DOJ’s Civil Division, where she conducted numerous health care fraud investigations and litigation matters brought under the civil False Claims Act and its qui tam (whistleblower) provisions, Ms. Weidenfeld earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and B.A. and B.M. degrees from Northwestern University. 

Mr. Edelstein, who co-chaired his former firm’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Group, advises U.S. and international health care providers, medical device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and technology companies on legal and regulatory issues, and assists hospitals, physician groups, and similar organizations in developing strategies pertaining to merger and acquisition activity, infrastructure financing, and compliance activities addressing fraud and abuse prevention. He has advised clients in implementing health care reform initiatives including accountable care organizations, bundled payments, and clinical co-management arrangements. Mr. Edelstein has experience in a wide range of health care information technology-related issues, which include assisting clients with adopting electronic health records, structuring telehealth arrangements, HIPAA compliance, and advising on mobile health matters. He also advises on cross-border medical services, patient mobility, medical tourism, and other international health care issues. Mr. Edelstein earned his J.D. from University of San Francisco; a Certificate, International and Comparative Law from University of Oxford; an M.P.A from University of Southern California; and a B.A. from University of California, Berkeley. 

Ms. Clarke’s practice is focused on device submissions, including traditional, abbreviated, and special 510(k) premarket notifications, investigational device exemption (IDE) applications, pre- submissions, premarket approval (PMA) applications, amendments, and supplements, reclassification petitions, de novo review submissions, device designation requests for combination products, requests for humanitarian use designation, humanitarian device exemption applications, add-to-files, and 513(g) determination requests. She also assists companies in filing PMA, HDE, and IDE annual reports. In addition, Ms. Clarke has extensive experience counseling medical device manufacturers regarding compliance with FDA laws and regulations pertaining to premarket clearance/approval, device modifications, labeling, clinical studies (including informed consent, FDA and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of protocols, and disclosure of investigators’ financial interests), medical device reporting, complaint handling, recalls, corrections, and removals. Ranked in the Legal 500, Ms. Clarke is a graduate of Smith College (A.B., cum laude), and earned her Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in health policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she served as an associate editor of the Stanford Law Review. 

"As clients throughout the entire health care sector face a multitude of changes in the regulation, oversight, and economics of the industry, Laura, Scott, and Laurie’s arrival substantially bolsters our already strong health care capabilities in Washington,” said Greg Shumaker, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Washington office. “With Cathy Livingston, perhaps the single most knowledgeable lawyer in this city and indeed this country on the Affordable Care Act; Alexis Gilroy, who is among the foremost leaders in telehealth and telemedicine; Toby Singer, a leading health care antitrust lawyer and Colleen Heisey, and Mark Mansour, two of the best regulatory oversight and compliance lawyers in FDA matters, and these three excellent lawyers in our office, we now have one of the strongest FDA regulatory and health care transactional, regulatory, and fraud and abuse practices in the city.” 

Jones Day is a global law firm with 41 offices in major centers of business and finance throughout the world. Its unique governance system fosters an unparalleled level of integration and contributes to its perennial ranking as among the best in the world in client service. Jones Day provides significant legal representation for almost half of the Fortune 500, Fortune Global 500, and FT Global 500.