Public
Interest
Public
Interest
Why Pro Bono Matters
to You, Your Community,
and Your Legal Career
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© 2014 by American Health Lawyers Association
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—From a declaration of the American Bar Association
Public Interest
The AHLA Pro Bono Health Law Initiative
provides access to resources, educational materials
and networking information for health lawyers
doing and seeking opportunities to do pro bono
legal work. From legal assistance for individuals
facing obstacles to obtaining health care or health
benefits, to pro bono corporate legal work for
health care charitable organizations and major
impact litigation on health access issues, there is
great diversity in pro bono opportunities for AHLA
members. AHLA’s webpage, www.healthlawyers.
org/probono offers a “virtual” handbook that
provides links to information on:
• Successful operation of pro bono health law
programs in law firm, private corporation, and
government agency settings;
• Connections to organizations doing pro bono
work on key health law issues at the national level
that are seeking to team with health lawyers; and
• Information on pro bono legal programs at the
state and local level with which AHLA members
may collaborate.
Many local bar organizations and non-profit
legal services organizations maintain networks of
volunteer attorneys and firms willing to screen and
handle pro bono matters. AHLA members may
wish to coordinate with these organizations to set
up panels of local firms interested in screening or
handling health law-related pro bono matters.
AHLA continues to explore new ways to enhance
and facilitate pro bono work in the health arena,
to expand the initiative to include highlights
of pro bono activity by AHLA members, to
provide recognition for AHLA members and
organizations making significant pro bono health
law contributions, and to support clearinghouse
and networking functions to help AHLA members
find teaming opportunities in pro bono work.
Pro Bono Champions
The Pro Bono Champion Awards recognize
lawyers who have provided significant pro bono
legal services in the health care/health law field,
helping to increase the availability and quality of
health care or otherwise provide needed access to
the legal system for those in need. Our awardees
represent excellence in fulfillment of the volunteer
tradition of the legal profession. Applications
are made available on the website beginning in
November and are due in April of each year.
AHLA’s inaugural class of twenty-six Pro Bono
Champions and their inspiring stories were
featured in the February 2012 AHLA Connections.
In 2013, Thirty-one additional Pro Bono
Champions were recognized for their dedication to
providing pro bono services in the health law field
(featured in the June 2013 AHLA Connections).
In 2014, twenty-three new Pro Bono Champions
will be recognized in AHLA’s Top Honors issue of
AHLA Connections. Pro Bono Champions are also
acknowledged during the Association’s Annual
Meeting.
We hope you will consider nominating a colleague
who is worthy of receiving this award.
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Encouraging Pro Bono Engagement
The AHLA Young Professionals Council and Public
Interest Committee have been working together to
produce a Public Interest Pro Bono Interview Series
that focuses on encouraging pro bono engagement.
These interviews appeared in the November 2013, February
2014, and May 2014 issues of the AHLA Connections magazine,
and each article featured two or three interviews with AHLA
members from a variety of work settings and practices who
have devoted a substantial amount of time to pro bono service.
By conducting these interviews, we hope you’ll learn from our
interviewees’ experiences so that you can better understand
how to get involved, how to balance pro bono service with our
other work obligations, and why understand it is so important
to make pro bono service a regular part of your entire legal
career. Our hope is that by sharing our interviewees’ stories
and advice, we will inspire others to become involved in pro
bono service too.
This interview series is just one of many ways in which AHLA,
through its Public Interest Committee, encourages and
informs its members about the many ways in which health
care attorneys can help the neediest in our communities. Visit
www.healthlawyers.org/probono for information on how to
start a pro bono program in your own place of employment;
resources at the state and local levels; information regarding
national pro bono connections; and to read about AHLA’s
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Pro Bono Champions. Their stories are truly inspiring and
it’s clear how each Champion’s commitment to providing pro
bono services has impacted the lives of one or many.
If you know someone who has been actively involved in
pro bono service and would be interested in sharing their
experiences in these future articles, please contact me.
Jennifer L. Touse
Associate Counsel
BayCare Health System Inc.
Clearwater, FL
Jennifer Touse (Jennifer.Touse@BayCare.
org) is an Associate Counsel for BayCare
Health System Inc., a leading communitybased health system in the Tampa Bay area
with 12 not-for-profit hospitals numerous
outpatient facilities and services, and over
20,000 employees. Ms. Touse is involved in negotiating physician employment and affiliation agreements, negotiating information technology agreements, addressing fraud and abuse
matters, and handling other transactional matters. Jennifer
received both her undergraduate and juris doctorate degrees
from the University of Florida, graduating as valedictorian of
her undergraduate class.
Public Interest
Justin Pitt, Vice President–Litigation and
Administration, Community Health Systems
Professional Services Corporation, Franklin, TN
Interviewed by T.J. Ferrante
Associate, Carlton Fields, Tampa, FL
One day, I had to explain to our General Counsel, Rachel
Seifert that I needed to leave an important meeting in order
to get to the Clinic on time. She became curious and started
asking me questions about the Clinic. Eventually, she started
attending walk-in clinics with me once a month as well. After
both of us had been volunteering for a while, she decided that
our Legal Department could partner with the Clinic to provide
our in-house lawyers with a regular opportunity to provide
pro bono assistance. The Clinic is now staffed with CHS
lawyers every first Tuesday of the month.
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lease share a particular story of a pro bono
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client that you helped.
The most meaningful case that I’ve had through the Clinic
occurred when I was standing outside the Clinic being interviewed by a local newspaper. There was an elderly gentleman
sitting a few feet away who was listening to me intently during
the interview. When the interview with the newspaper was
over, he walked over and sat down with me and began to tell
me his story about how he had been injured as a result of a
toxic tort. I listed to this gentleman for almost two hours and
as we started finishing up, he started weeping heavily – not just
a tear, but sobbing. He then looked at me and said that he had
been dealing with this for about nine months and that I was
the first person who had ever listened to him.
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How did you become involved with pro bono
work?
Since I graduated from law school, I’ve always tried to do a
lot of pro bono work. I started at a very small law firm, and
we had a lot of people walk in needing help who didn’t have
the resources to pay for an attorney. It was difficult to turn so
many people away so I’ve always tried to make pro bono work
a significant part of my practice. I took that approach with me
when I moved to a big firm in Nashville and later to CHS.
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lease describe your initial involvement with
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the Williamson County Legal Aid Clinic.
When I was in private practice in Nashville, I was involved
with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the
Cumberlands which provided a walk-in legal clinic once a
month. Later, when I left my private law firm practice to work
in-house for CHS, the Legal Aid Society contacted me to see if
I would continue to volunteer with a new Williamson County
Legal Aid Clinic (Clinic) they were starting up. I agreed and
began volunteering at the Clinic once a month.
This was one of those moments where I realized that, yes we
are there to provide advice, yes we are there to try to help
people with their legal problems and all the other things that
attorneys do, but primarily, in legal aid clinics like this one,
sometimes what people need most is just having someone to
listen to them and treat them with dignity.
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hat suggestions do you have for young attorW
neys who may be hesitant to get involved with
pro bono activities because they feel they lack
expertise?
My advice is that pro bono cases are actually the best way to
get that first experience. The best way to learn something is
to do it. When I first came out of law school, I was in litigation, and I knew I needed courtroom experience. I knew that
if I took a pro bono landlord/tenant case or a pro bono car
accident case, or something similar, that I could go down to
general sessions court and try that case within two months.
Pro bono cases are the perfect cases for when you don’t have a
lot of experience.
My advice for younger lawyers whose expertise is in health
care law and are hesitant about taking a litigation case or a
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divorce case or another case outside of their area of expertise
would be to find someone in their law firm or professional
network to be a “sounding board.” This doesn’t mean you need
to ask this person to partner with you on the case, but rather,
just ask them to let you periodically bounce ideas off of them.
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Does your organization, CHS, provide any additional pro bono training?
There are two kinds of training. The Legal Aid Society provides
lawyers to walk us through how the process works at the
Clinic. The other way we receive training is to pair up our new
lawyers with a lawyer that has more pro bono experience for
the first few Clinic sessions. This gives our new lawyers a feel
for how the pro bono process works. I am thankful that CHS
has always been very supportive of the Legal Department’s pro
bono initiatives.
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hat advice do you have for young lawyers
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who are faced with challenges associated with
time constraints?
The biggest challenge when I was a younger associate in a big law
firm was making my billable hours. To deal with this, I learned
to let the partners I worked for know how many pro bono cases I
had, what the cases were about, and why I was taking them.
For example, if you take a pro bono case that’s going to go
to trial, my advice would be to approach your partners and
explain to them that you’re taking the pro bono case to gain
trial experience and that trial experience will make you a more
effective lawyer, while also assisting someone in need. You
will get much more buy-in from a law firm when you are open
and candid with your firm about what you are working on for
pro bono and explain to the firm why it benefits the firm and
benefits you professionally while also providing a service to
the community. This may not completely do away with time
constraints, but it will usually result in the law firm being more
giving of its time.
Ultimately, however, there is no getting away from the fact
that taking on pro bono work as a young lawyer, especially in
a large law firm, is a sacrifice. But we are fortunate people, and
there are a lot of people out there whose lives are much harder
than ours. I think it is incumbent upon us to make the time
because there are so many people who need help.
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ow do you estimate in advance the resources
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and time that a pro bono matter may take?
Find the lawyers in your firm who appear to be doing a lot of
pro bono work and pick their brains. People who do pro bono
work tend to be passionate about it and are usually willing to
talk about it. Talk to those people and you can often get advice
and a sense from them of how much time a case will take. The
other great resource is the full-time lawyers with your local
legal aid society.
When I moved to Nashville, I befriended one of the lawyers
at the legal aid society. I would often approach her and let
her know, for example, that I had about 20 to 30 hours in the
next four months to dedicate to pro bono work and would ask
whether there was anything in the pipeline that would fit that
time commitment well. I would really encourage people to use
their local legal aid society. It is a great resource and they are
very helpful in helping you pick the right kind of case.
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ave you ever taken on a pro bono case or
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project that ended up being too much for you to
handle alone?
Yes. Once, I took on a divorce case that ended up having some
difficult child custody issues. I finally reached a point in that
case where I had to reach out to a friend of mine who worked
at another law firm and was a full-time divorce lawyer. After a
lot of begging and pleading, he agreed to help me with the case.
When it comes down to it, you can’t be afraid to ask for help
when you think you need it.
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o you have any ‘Dos and Don’ts’ when
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agreeing to pro bono representation?
I think the biggest “Do” is to listen. You have to remember that
a lot of potential pro bono clients are not sophisticated business
people and do not understand the legal system. As a young
lawyer, there were times when I did not listen long enough to
my client and I jumped to the wrong conclusions. I think that
with some pro bono clients, it takes a while to figure out what
the real issues are.
The other big “Do” is to treat your pro bono client like you
would your other clients. Define the attorney-client relationship like you do with your other clients. Terminate the
attorney-client relationship like you would with your other
clients. Do this not only because they deserve to be treated that
way, but also because it will serve you well.
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10
I f young professionals don’t have a pro bono
program in place where they work, what
would you suggest that they do first to set up
a pro bono program?
If you are in an organization that doesn’t already have a pro
bono program, try to get one started. What I have found with
respect to pro bono work is that most everybody deep down
wants to do it, but many lawyers believe they don’t know how
to do it. For example, a HIPAA lawyer may be afraid to branch
out into a courtroom or may not know how he can otherwise
contribute.
If you want to make a difference, figure out the “how.” I think
that if you figure out the “how,” not only will other lawyers in
your firm participate, but I believe your company will be more
likely to participate. People want to do good; they just need to
figure out the “how.”
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hat general advice can you give to young
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health care lawyers?
Make sure that your pro bono work puts you in actual contact
with people in need. These are the people who come into your
client’s hospitals. These are the people who walk into your
physician client’s offices. These are your client’s clients. I think
this type of pro bono work gives you a fantastic perspective
and experience and really teaches you how to listen.
Also, on a bigger scale, even though we are all worried about
billable hours and advancing our careers, it is important to
remember that pro bono activities will give you an overwhelming sense of perspective. Often, I’ll hear myself or one
of our other lawyers grumble about going to the Clinic and the
drive across town after work, fighting rush hour traffic, to get
there, but the day after, we are always grateful that we went to
the Clinic.
Justin Pitt ([email protected]) currently serves as Vice
President of Litigation and Administration at Community
Health Systems Professional Services Corporation (CHS).
Justin Pitt joined CHS in 2009 after nine years of private
practice in commercial litigation, health law and government
relations. He provides litigation and operational support for
multiple divisions and departments and is responsible for
the legal department’s administrative matters. Pitt received
his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Carson-Newman
College, and his law degree from Washington University (Order of the Coif), where he was a William Webster
Fellow. He is a current member and former Chairman of the
Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance. Mr. Pitt is
an active AHLA member and serves on the Dispute Resolution
Council.
Thomas (T.J.) Ferrante (TFerrante@
carltonfields.com) focuses his practice on
a wide range of transactional and related
regulatory issues for health industry clients,
including for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals and health systems, multi-specialty physician practice groups, and long-term care providers. He also
advises health care clients in all aspects of federal and state
regulatory matters and handles federal and state tax matters
with respect to individual, corporate, tax exempt organization, and pass-through entities. Mr. Ferrante received a BA
in Philosophy in Spanish from the College of the Holy Cross
(2007) in Worcester, MA, and an MBA in Finance from the
Sykes College of Business at the University of Tampa (2009).
Mr. Ferrante then received his JD (2011) and LLM in Taxation
(2012) from Boston University School of Law.
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Public Interest
Bradley M. Thompson
Epstein Becker & Green PC, Washington, DC
Interviewed by Lauren DeWitt
Associate, Weber Gallagher, Warren, NJ
will generally do that on its own. As a pro bono attorney, you
have to allow the client enough space to share their story. I give
the clients the opportunity to share with me everything that they
feel they need to in conveying their reason for seeking the clinic’s
assistance. I can talk with a client for an hour or more and wind
up with one or two paragraphs of legally relevant facts, but it is
important that they feel like they have been heard.
Follow-up questions are also important, and that is where I
utilize more of my traditional legal skills. I figure out what are the
best questions to ask, identify potential legal issues and forward
the client on to the resource that would most benefit them.
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lease describe an unexpected benefit of the
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pro bono work that you do.
I have gained humility and an increased ability to empathize
from my involvement with pro bono work. Through my
involvement at the Christian legal clinics, I have the opportunity to understand better what people struggle with in this
country. As lawyers, we are a privileged group of people and we
do not always recognize that.
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hy did you initially become involved in pro
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bono work?
It was my Christian faith that initially prompted me to get
involved in pro bono work. I felt called to help people in my
community who might otherwise not have access to legal
representation. I became involved with the Gospel Justice
Initiative (www.gji.org), which allowed me to utilize my legal
skills, along with my Christian beliefs, to help others. The
Gospel Justice Initiative connects experienced attorneys who
volunteer to provide legal services to society’s most vulnerable
and underrepresented populations through Christian legal
clinics (also known as “Justice Centers”). The Gospel Justice
Initiative also provides attorneys with a framework to support
and sustain a Christian legal clinic in their area. At this point,
we have 50 Christian legal clinics in the United States, and our
goal is to establish 1,000 clinics.
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hat type of skills do you rely on most in your
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pro bono work?
I find I utilize vastly different skills in my pro bono work than
I do in my food and drug practice, drawing primarily upon my
human relations skills. The single most important thing I can do
for a client is to listen to them. I have learned how important it
is that you show pro bono clients that you care; intently listening
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hat suggestions do you have for young attorW
neys who may be hesitant to get involved in
pro bono activities because they feel they lack
expertise?
My advice would be to find organizations where you do not
necessarily need expertise. There are not many opportunities
to practice food and drug law on a pro bono level. Legal clinics
formed through the Gospel Justice Initiative utilize a three step
process. First there is an intake screening, the client is then
routed to the department within the clinic that focuses on that
area of the law, and finally, the client may be routed to someone
in our network of volunteer attorneys who specialize in various
areas of the law. I do the intake on Saturdays at my local legal
clinic. Doing the intake has given me the opportunity to help
people without having any expertise in the particular area of
law pertinent to that client. I utilize those skills that we all have
as lawyers: listening, questioning, critical thinking and identifying issues. I work with a team of people and together we
try to meet the client’s needs. Sometimes the clients don’t need
legal help but rather need guidance on where they can obtain
social services or assistance of another kind.
For example, one day while doing intake at the clinic an
80-year-old woman hobbled into my office using a walker. She
had severe diabetes, with all of the side effects that accompany
the advanced stage, including loss of eyesight and loss of the
function of her extremities. I asked her how we could help her.
She took some crumpled papers out of her purse, and spread
them on the table in front of me. She explained that because
of her eyesight she couldn’t read them very well. She offered
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her general understanding that they were from the Board of
Health, and that they were condemning her home. I looked
at the papers, and they indeed said her home was going to
be condemned. I asked her how this had come to be. She
explained that a nice woman from the Board of Health came
to visit her, and had asked to look around. This inspector noted
conditions around her house that needed fixing, and this
paper arrived sometime later. I got excited. As a food and drug
lawyer, in nearly every case for the clinic, I don’t know a darn
thing that is useful. However, I do know something about the
power of government agencies on health matters.
Immediately, my mind starts going through Supreme Court
case law on the requirements for lawful inspection. So I start
brainstorming out loud with this woman, and she just looks
at me confused. Then she states that she wants to make sure
that I understand that all of the things that the inspector found
broken are indeed broken. I explained that as an attorney, I
will decide whether the conditions do in fact meet the requirements. She continues to just look at me puzzled and perhaps
with a bit of pity. I go back into my thinking mode about how
I’m going to challenge this inspection, and then there’s the small
voice from my right side. The paralegal who has been sitting
there says she has an idea. She has a friend at her church who is
willing to help the elderly with basic home maintenance for free.
He spends a couple hours each weekend fixing broken stuff to
help out the elderly if they’re all alone. My paralegal is looking
at the individual items on the list and explaining how relatively
simple it would be to fix them. Well, I say, that’s another way to
go, so I asked the client which she would prefer. She opts for the
handyman route.
That experience highlights how expertise is not always the
most important thing. In that instance I had expertise in that
specific area of the law but the legal route was not necessarily
in the client’s best interest. Rather through working with my
teammate and drawing on community resources we were able
to help this client and improve her quality of life.
5
I f young professionals don’t have a pro bono
program in place where they work, what would
you suggest that they do first to set up a pro
bono program or to provide pro bono service on
their own?
I would suggest young professionals never work alone in doing
pro bono work. We are stronger when we work together and it
makes us more effective in providing assistance to populations
in need when we have others with varying expertise and skills
to draw upon. That is what I find so helpful about the Gospel
Justice Initiative; it helps connect attorneys interested in pro
bono work with other like-minded individuals in their area.
The Gospel Justice Initiative gives classes on how to organize
Christian legal clinics and advice on best practices for free legal
programs. This allows an individual attorney to spearhead an
effort but not without guidance, assistance and a network of
individuals that they can call upon should they need help.
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o you have any other advice for young
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professionals about pro bono work?
We are all busy and it is difficult to fit pro bono work into our
busy practices. However, you should never lessen quality to get
the job done. You should always do the best job you can do and
the best job that can be done under the circumstances. You
will get a great amount of personal satisfaction from doing pro
bono work and doing it well.
Bradley Merrill Thompson ([email protected]) is a
shareholder in the law firm of Epstein Becker & Green PC. There
he counsels medical device, drug, and combination product
companies on a wide range of FDA regulatory and reimbursement issues. At the firm, Mr. Thompson leads the Medical
Device Regulatory Practice, the Clinical Trials Practice and the
Connected Health Practice, and serves on the firm’s Health &
Life Sciences Steering Committee. Mr. Thompson has taught
food & drug law at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and Columbia Law School and serves on several editorial
boards. In 2013, Mr. Thompson is serving on a congressionallyauthorized federal advisory committee called the Food and Drug
Administration Safety Innovation Act (FDASIA) Workgroup.
That workgroup is charged with providing expert input to FDA,
ONC, and the FCC on a regulatory framework for health information technology, including mobile medical applications. On
that workgroup, Mr. Thompson serves as co-chair of the Regulations sub-workgroup. Mr. Thompson has written extensively on
the topics of medical device regulation. He was included in 100
Notable People in the Medical Device Industry, has earned an
AV rating in Martindale Hubble (its highest rating), has been
named a “SuperLawyer” in Indiana and Washington DC, has
been elected as a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and is
listed in Chambers USA: A Guide to America’s Leading Business
Lawyers. Mr. Thompson received his BA cum laude, and an MBA
from the University of Illinois and his JD cum laude from the
University of Michigan Law School.
Lauren A. DeWitt ([email protected]) is
an Associate at Weber Gallagher in Warren,
NJ. She represents health care providers in
regulatory and transactional matters. Lauren
also represents health care providers in
medical professional liability cases. Her clients
include acute care facilities, long-term care facilities, physicians, nurses and technicians. She is a graduate of Seton Hall
University School of Law and Rutgers University.
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Kathy Cerminara
Nova Southeastern University, Davie, FL
Interviewed by Amy Sanders
Associate, Bass Berry & Sims PLC, Nashville, TN
national level. As a law professor at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Shepard Broad Law Center, I’m trying to tackle the
issue from a community angle.
The “Wounds of War” symposium, which I organized with my
colleague Olympia Duhart, also a law professor, grew out of a
collective effort at NSU to focus on veterans’ issues. Another
project is still in the works: we are launching a veterans’ clinic
at the NSU Law Center in the early months of 2014, which I
hope will develop into a medical/legal partnership to address
legal and mental health issues simultaneously. Mental health
issues can trigger legal issues–you can’t fix the whole problem
if you only fix the legal problem.
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ow and why did you choose to become
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involved with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD) awareness and research?
The child of a marine, my respect for military personnel and
veterans runs deep. My father returned from Korea physically
and mentally intact, his good fortune growing increasingly
apparent to me as I noticed that certain symptoms were prevalent in other soldiers and veterans. I met veterans living on a
spectrum with an inexplicable tipping point—one was institutionalized due to mental health issues, another lived in his
car because he was unable to ease back into life at home. I saw
how easily Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) could rob
soldiers and veterans of the respect they deserve. The National
Institute of Mental Health recognizes PTSD as an invisible
brain injury that changes or damages the body’s natural “fightor-flight” response.
The Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs,
the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of
Education recently committed to integrating and sharing
research in order to accelerate progress on the issue at a
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hat suggestions do you have for young attorW
neys who may be hesitant to get involved with
veterans’ issues or other pro bono activities
because they feel they lack expertise?
All lawyers start somewhere. There’s a first time for everything. Ask questions of others who know the field, and do your
research. I recall feeling overwhelmed and terrified about a pro
bono paternity case I took on while working as an associate
in the litigation department of a law firm. The firm’s pro bono
efforts centered on paternity cases, so, moving past my fear that
I lacked useful skills, I asked others for advice. Higher level
associates and a few partners passed along information that
quieted the overwhelming feeling. I learned you have to jump
in and represent the client (after sufficient preparation) to move
past the feeling of being terrified.
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lease tell us about the teamwork behind your
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pro bono efforts.
The year before I became involved with this project, our school
decided to launch a law review symposium series. The faculty
member who organized the first symposium, Michael Dale,
suggested PTSD as a focus of the second symposium. I was
immediately attracted to the idea because of the great need for
increased awareness and appreciation of the special issues faced
by veterans and active-duty military personnel with PTSD. The
area was a nice fit for me because of my health law expertise,
and it was a nice fit for Professor Duhart, because of her focus
on social justice in her work and writing. It was also a great way
to spark the interest of students and teach them about veterans’
issues before we launched the clinic. Some of them might
eventually work in the clinic. Also, fortuitous timing allowed
the day to be capped off by the hiring announcement of a staff
attorney for the clinic.
The team behind the PTSD symposium stretched beyond
the walls of the school, though, and helped to form lasting
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relationships. The event so impressed the judge of our county
mental health court and the judge of our veterans’ court that
they have both returned to assist with other projects in which
I’ve been involved.
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ithout disclosing any confidential informaW
tion, can you tell us about someone whom you
have helped through your efforts?
A student came to me after the symposium to share his own
PTSD stories, and explained he was inspired to help others
who are struggling. Just talking about the issue is a step
forward. The staff attorney NSU hired for the clinic noted that
veterans returning from recent missions to places like Iraq
represented a new era of veteran. They have served in multiple
combat tours, yet they come back and are still so young—they
are in graduate education programs or begin serving at the
professional level so soon after combat.
5
hat is your favorite memory from this experiW
ence and/or what are you most proud of?
My favorite memory is the audience’s reaction to a slide show
featuring Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographs. It silenced
everyone with its images of an Iraq veteran’s small victories
over PTSD contrasted with moments of startling despair. You
could hear a pin drop in the large auditorium.
I’m most proud of the combination of speakers at the symposium. We had a member of active-duty military, a veteran who
shared his PTSD struggles for the first time, the most noted
expert on PTSD-related suicide in the country, a high-level
expert in the Department of Defense, and many non-lawyer
participants. Several veterans were seated in the audience and
added further insight, thanks to the publicity of the event
through a local veteran’s hospital. I think this gave the audience a
well-rounded look at PTSD and the issues it raises.
6
hat benefit are you hoping the veteran’s clinic
W
brings to the community?
It’s informative to look to an existing program in our area:
one symposium panelist was the judge of the Broward County
Veterans’ Court, a pretrial diversion program designed for
veterans struggling with PTSD. Instead of doling out punishment for breaking the law, veterans’ courts recognize that a
veteran’s unlawful actions may be caused by PTSD and try
to help veterans find therapeutic alternatives. I believe in
the principle of cooperative representation–the law can and
should work hand in hand with other professions to assist in
improving mental health. The law school is just one part of a
university campus that has many services that could potentially benefit veterans.
7
ow is your pro bono work different from
H
your day-to-day work? How do you transition
between the two?
It is both different from and similar to my day-to-day work.
The time spent conceptualizing, planning, and putting on this
symposium was different from my classroom teaching in that
it took place very much in private or in one-on-one conversations and email exchanges with others. In that way, it’s a bit
like the part of my job that involves writing scholarly articles
–another relatively solitary activity. To be a teacher, you have
to be “on” during class, almost like an actor going onstage or
a trial lawyer going into trial. This planning was much more
about research and about being detail-oriented, which is what
I have to do with my scholarship.
8
id the school provide any additional training
D
that helped you?
No training, but it did provide the most amazing resource in
the form of our director of communications and special events,
Jennifer Jarema. Once Professor Duhart and I had conceptualized our program and identified the participants, all we had
to do was to secure their agreement to participate. Jennifer
produced the brochure, handled travel arrangements, booked
rooms—she did all the groundwork.
9
ow has your pro bono service made you a
H
better professor?
It’s reawakened an interest in me in therapeutic jurisprudence,
the legal theory that asserts that the law should work toward
good psychological functioning of its citizens. Becoming more
familiar with PTSD and its effects and learning more about the
veterans’ court and other ways the law could be more “therapeutic” toward those with PTSD has inspired me to raise such
issues with my students.
10
side from time constraints, what is the
A
biggest challenge that you face in your pro
bono work?
Honestly, the biggest challenge can be getting help from
others—which I understand, as sometimes it’s difficult to
volunteer my own time and effort. That said, there’s a lot
of good will to be had when people learn that you support
veterans in their efforts to get on with their lives after
returning from duty. We owe so much to those who help
protect us and our freedoms; many people are happy to
support those who help them.
9
Public Interest
Professor Kathy Cerminara ([email protected].
edu) bridges the medical and legal professions with her work
on patients’ rights in the end-of-life decision-making arena.
She co-authors the nationally known treatise, The Right to Die:
The Law of End-of-Life Decisionmaking, and is a reviewer for
several medical and medical-legal journals. Her scholarship
most recently has focused on the intersection between end-oflife care, palliative care, and health care coverage policy. At the
Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, she is
a full professor and serves as Director of Faculty Development.
Professor Cerminara teaches Torts, Health Policy, Bioethics
& Quality of Care, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, and
other health-law-related courses. She also created and was
the initial director of the online Master of Science in Health
Law program for non-lawyers. Prior to joining the Law Center
faculty, Professor Cerminara taught at St. Thomas University
School of Law and the University of Miami School of Law,
clerked in the Western District of Pennsylvania and the United
States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and practiced law
with Reed Smith Shaw & McClay in Pittsburgh, PA. Professor
Cerminara received her JD, magna cum laude from the
University of Pittsburgh and her LLM and JSD from Columbia
10
University. She is an affiliate member of the Health Law and
Tort Trial and Insurance sections of The Florida Bar, a retired
member of the Pennsylvania Bar, and a member of the American Bar Association, the American Society of Law, Medicine &
Ethics and the American Health Lawyers Association.
Amy Sanders ([email protected]) is
an associate at Bass Berry & Sims PLC in Nashville, TN. She focuses on operational, regulatory
and transactional work for health care providers
ranging from hospitals and urgent care centers
to home health providers and hospice. Before
joining the firm’s health care group, Amy gained experience at
the Tennessee Department of Health and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy. Ms. Sanders
earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University. She attended
Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario and received an Ontario
College Graduate Certificate in Journalism: New Media and
attended The University of Western Ontario where she received a
BA in Media, Information and Technoculture.
Public Interest
Mark Cunningham
Jones Walker LLP
New Orleans, LA
Interviewed by Laurice M. Rutledge, Associate,
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, Atlanta, GA
to mind. As a result, I decided to begin representing indigent criminal defendants. My first criminal case was a drug
possession with intent to distribute case. The more criminal
cases I took on, the more confidence and experience I gained,
and over the past sixteen years, I have handled over twenty
criminal cases, including two capital murder cases. Although
many of these cases required hundreds of hours of attorney
and paralegal time, I viewed the time as very well spent.
3
You initially became involved in pro bono work to
build your litigation skills. Do you view pro bono
work as a significant professional development tool?
Absolutely. It has been a critical role in my professional development. Pro bono work is personally fulfilling and has made
me a better lawyer. For instance, I gained valuable trial experience though my pro bono criminal defense practice, the
pro bono work has raised my profile both inside and outside
my law firm, and I have developed a much wider network of
professional relationships than I would have, had I focused
solely on my “day” job.
4
1
What type of pro bono work you are involved in?
I am a long time supporter of, and continue to be dedicated
to, the New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC) and Assistance Foundation (NOMAF). I am also a volunteer lawyer
and former Board Chair of The Pro Bono Project (PBP), an
organization which provides free civil legal services through
a network of volunteer lawyers to under-served communities
in the New Orleans metropolitan area. Over the course of my
career, I have also provided pro bono litigation services to
nonprofits such as the Innocence Project and regularly accept
pro bono appointments for individuals charged in state court
with criminal offenses.
2
How did you become involved in pro bono
work?
I am an antitrust lawyer by “day” and realized early on in my
career that if I wanted to be a successful litigator, I needed
to log hours in the courtroom because as a junior associate
in a large law firm, such opportunities were hard to come
by. When thinking about the types of lawyers who spend
the most time in the courtroom, criminal attorneys came
What suggestions do you have for young attorneys who may be hesitant to get involved with
pro bono activities because they feel they lack
expertise?
My advice is that all attorneys should accept pro bono cases
only if they are prepared to show their clients the same level
of commitment afforded paying clients. Attorneys also should
aim to take on cases in areas of the law that interest them
and that are well-suited to their level of experience. That
said, attorneys should not necessarily turn down a pro bono
opportunity simply because it would require the attorney to
work in an area of law where they have little experience, as
subject matter experts are almost always available to provide
assistance either as co-counsel or on an informal basis.
5
Please explain how you have used your pro
bono experience to help effect public policy
changes.
In 2012, the public defender system in New Orleans experienced a funding shortfall. Some state court judges reacted
by appointing members of the private bar to help clear their
criminal dockets. This resulted in in-house, firm and other
civil attorneys being called on to accept criminal defense
cases even if they had no prior criminal law experience.
Although I understood why the judges felt like they had little
choice but to appoint private counsel, I also believed that
this system raised serious due process concerns for indigent
defendants who would be represented by attorneys with no
criminal law experience. Working with the district public
11
Public Interest
defender, I organized a consortium of the larger private law
firms in New Orleans to take on indigent representations
until the funding crisis could be resolved. Everyone in the
legal community chipped in–the private law firms dedicated
thousands of hours of attorney time, the criminal defense bar
made themselves available as consultant to the private firms,
West donated hundreds of criminal procedure handbooks,
and the state and local bars helped recruit volunteers. All
told this community effort donated well over $1 million in
attorney time.
6
How do you balance your robust pro bono practice with your full time client demands?
Well, I consider the practice of law to be more of a hobby
than a job. I believe that as a member of the bar, it is my duty
to provide legal services to those who would otherwise have
limited access to such services, and I gain a sense of fulfillment and enrichment from the pro bono work that I do.
Making a difference in someone’s life is a true gift.
7
Does Jones Walker support your dedication to
pro bono work?
Jones Walker’s support has been invaluable in my commitment to pro bono services. The firm does not require its
attorneys to perform a certain number of pro bono hours
per year but instead takes an entrepreneurial approach to
pro bono services. Jones Walker provides its attorneys with
the monetary resources and staff to take such cases, thereby
encouraging its attorneys to become involved in, and give
back to, their communities. As a result, I have always felt
supported and free to pursue my pro bono efforts and in
turn I have been dedicated to Jones Walker and my full-time
practice.
Mark Cunningham ([email protected])
is a partner with the Corporate Compliance and Litigation
Team and maintains an active national trial and appellate
practice focused on antitrust, intellectual property, export
control, and commercial dispute. He has been annually
recognized by Benchmark Litigation, Super Lawyers, The
Best Lawyers in America, and New Orleans City Business
for his trial work and leadership in the New Orleans legal
community since 2009. His recent significant engagements
include defeating an application for temporary restraining
12
order and preliminary injunction against an international
recycling concern charged with federal antitrust violations.
Mr. Cunningham also recently served as lead counsel for a
software concern targeted by federal authorities for allegedly
violating the embargo against Iran. Mr. Cunningham also
recently obtained a preliminary injunction against a software licensee pirating software on behalf of hacker syndicate
located in Eastern Europe and a not-guilty verdict on behalf
of a wrongfully accused juvenile facing a mandatory life
sentence. In addition to his trial practice, Mr. Cunningham
serves as an adjunct professor for Antitrust Law at Loyola
University New Orleans College of Law and has held
numerous leadership positions in the ABA, Louisiana State
Bar Association, and the New Orleans Bar Association.
Laurice Rutledge ([email protected]) focuses her practice on health
care law, advising clients in connection with
regulatory, compliance, and corporate health
care matters, including the structuring of
transactions among health care providers,
confidentiality and privacy of medical records, the establishment and implementation of compliance programs, reimbursement matters, clinical research related matters, and
health care fraud and abuse issues. Currently, Ms. Rutledge
is the Secretary for the Law Pipeline Program, a non-profit
organization that works to ensure that middle and high
school students in the Atlanta community have the resources
and experiences necessary to be successful after high school
in hopes that they will enter the pipeline of legal professionals. Ms. Rutledge is also the Chair for the Georgia Bar’s
Advocates for Students with Disabilities Committee where
she has worked to create the Education Advocacy for Students
with Special Needs Program, which pairs low-income parents
of children with special needs with pro bono attorneys. While
in law school, Ms. Rutledge served as the Symposium Editor
for The Georgia State University Law Review and was on the
Moot Court Board. Prior to law school, Ms. Rutledge worked
as a senior associate for LECG in Washington, DC where she
helped develop the consulting firm’s health care litigation
sector. She received her JD from Georgia State University,
2010, magna cum laude and her B.A. from The College of
William and Mary, 2004, cum laude.
Public Interest
Lisa M. Kaderabek
Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Chicago, IL
Interviewed by Sarah Jordan, Staff Attorney,
Palomar Health, San Diego, CA
1
How did you initially become involved with
The Women’s Treatment Center of Chicago?
My partner, Andrea Kramer (Andie), was a founding board
member of The Women’s Treatment Center, an Illinois
501(c)(3) agency, whose mission is to provide women with
a continuum of care, recovery tools, and parenting skills
to maintain a sober lifestyle as they rebuild their lives and
futures and mend the bonds with their families. In 1993,
TWTC had a pooled bond arrangement, and my first project
for TWTC was to analyze this tax-exempt bond debt. I
helped TWTC determine whether the interest rate and bond
covenants were still appropriate, given the small amount of
debt outstanding.
2
What suggestions do you have for young
attorneys who may be hesitant to get involved
in pro bono activities because they feel they lack
expertise?
If young professionals talk to their coworkers, I believe they
are likely to find support for what they want to do. In addition
to general support, they may also find that people are likely
to be willing to help them out for causes in which they are
interested or from a sense of collegiality. While you may get
questions that are outside your comfort zone while providing
pro bono service, I have always found that people within my
firm will step up to the occasion and assist. In a polite way,
simply ask your colleagues for help and of course be helpful
to them in return.
3
Without disclosing any confidential information, can you tell us about a case you handled,
a client you helped?
I recently helped two not-for-profit associations that joined
forces. One of the two organizations was over 100 years old.
I enjoyed the history that came with this project, and I found
the opportunity to work alongside the not-for-profit boards
that wanted to ensure they were doing the right thing to
support the missions of the organizations especially interesting. It was also fun to be involved in the array of issues
that come up in such a transaction. For example, the plan
of communication surrounding the announcement of the
two associations’ combination was important, and we had
to consider how to handle the communication of the change
to donors, clients and the media. This was not a transaction
directly related to health care, but it was a 501(c)(3) not-forprofit transaction, and helping contribute to the successful
combination of these two associations was a dynamic and
rewarding project.
4
Aside from time constraints, what is the biggest
challenge you face in your pro bono work?
Because a lot of my pro bono work comes from acting in a
general counsel role, there are times when I get questions
from clients that are outside my area. In situations like this,
I take entire ownership of the project and handle it just as
I would tackle a project in my firm or personal life–I get
educated. If you take entire ownership of the project, then
you think about the project as if it was your own project. By
reading about the issue online, speaking with relevant people
about it, and conducting research, you can find a working
approach to the problem. In general, do not give up. Keep
pulling the thread until you find the person who can help you
with it. After all, if you do not do it, then who will?
5
How is your pro bono work different from
your day-to-day work? How do you transition
between the two?
I do not treat them very differently at all. Once you take on
pro bono work, you spend just as much time on it as you
do on your non-pro bono work. While you do not need to
differentiate, you do need to ensure you manage expectations
in terms of delivery. If you have to find another person to help
you with a project, then you will want to ensure that timing is
okay in terms of project delivery.
13
Public Interest
6
If young professionals do not have a pro bono
program in place where they work, what would
you suggest that they do first if they are interested
in setting up a pro bono program? Or if they are
interested in providing pro bono service on their
own?
There are a lot of bar and other agencies out there that are
always looking for pro bono help. Some agencies have nicely
structured programs, which are good for young associates
who would like to know they are not getting in over their
heads. There are also programs that provide training for the
volunteer attorneys (e.g., school counseling programs, tax
return preparation programs).
If a young professional is already involved in his/her community with causes in which he/she is interested, there is another
route to take–often times, all as it takes is asking the executive director or a staffer if the organization needs legal help.
If a young associate finds a project of this nature that the
associate is willing to take on, then the associate can turn to
the firm’s pro bono committee (if the firm has one), and see
if the associate can go through the firm’s policy or procedure
of bringing on/taking on a new pro bono project. This path
permits younger attorneys to work for causes about which
they are genuinely passionate.
For young professionals who are not already involved in
community projects, there may be yet another route to
explore potential pro bono opportunities. For instance, in
any law firm, and even in in-house settings at health care
entities, some of the charitable activities your supervisors and
colleagues are involved in are likely in the transactional area.
For young professionals who do not want to go too far out
of their comfort zone, ask the people you work with or your
friends or neighbors what causes they care about, and explore
potential opportunities that way.
7
What kind of questions do you ask when
screening a pro bono case before agreeing to
take it on?
You do always want to check conflicts before committing to
any project. Even if you have assisted a client on a long-term
basis, you still need to run a conflict check for each project. It
is also important to ask a sufficient number of questions from
the outset, so you have a full understanding of the project. If
the project looks like it might be outside of your expertise,
ensure that you would be able to staff the project appropriately. For example, if the matter will involve you having to
14
go to court and you are not comfortable handling a litigated matter alone, make sure you connect with a litigation
colleague who will help you.
8
How and why did you choose what you are
doing?
While I initially became involved in pro bono work because
my partner asked me to, I thoroughly enjoy the work I do on a
pro bono basis. I enjoy getting calls on a day-to-day basis and
it is dynamic and never the same. Making sure that women
are able to get into substance abuse treatment and have their
children provided for at the same time is a cause that is dear
to my heart. Through pro bono work, I am able to interact
with people on a human level. Pro bono work improves lives,
your own included.
9
What types of skills do you rely on most?
Listening and counseling skills. At the outset, you have to
listen, and this includes listening to how the entity anticipates
addressing the issue and potentially recommending an alternative solution. For example, when managers or the board are
considering alternative actions, it is important that they have
a robust understanding of the pros and cons.
10
Do you think that your experience providing
pro bono work has made you a better
attorney?
Yes. I have been able to do projects that I probably would not
have done otherwise. The beauty of the pro bono projects is
that you are helping people. The idea that what we are doing
is touching human lives is very important to me.
11
Does your firm have a program that helps
people get involved in pro bono work?
The American Bar Association (ABA) has pro bono goals, and
McDermott Will & Emery always strives to meet them. There
are a wide variety of firm-sanctioned pro bono opportunities,
including tutoring in the schools and developing lesson plans
for public school students who need special services. Associates here, as in many large firms, have the ability to either
step into ready-made programs, or bring their own projects to
the firm’s pro bono committee for approval.
Lisa M. Kaderabek ([email protected]) is a partner
in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based
in the firm’s Chicago, IL, office. She focuses her practice on
health care transactions, including securities offerings, joint
ventures, physician/hospital syndications, tax-exempt bond
financings, captive insurance, mergers and acquisi-
Public Interest
tions, partnerships, corporate governance and formation. Ms. Kaderabek advises and represents a wide
variety of clients, including issuers and underwriters
of publicly and privately offered securities, including
bonds, financial institutions, hospitals, other health care
and medical equipment providers, captive insurance
industry participants, business corporations, limited
liability companies and partnerships. She is a frequent
lecturer on securities laws, corporate governance and
the impact of federal and state securities laws on health
care transactions. Ms. Kaderabek is a recipient of the
2012 National Public Service Award from the American
Bar Association Business Law Section, the Inaugural
American Health Lawyers Association Pro Bono Champion Award for 2010 and 2011, as well as the firm’s 2012
Pro Bono Award.
Sarah E. Jordan ([email protected]) is a Staff Attorney for Palomar
Health, a health care district in southern
California with several facilities. Ms. Jordan
is involved in contract review and negotiating the health care district’s business
associate agreements. Ms. Jordan received a BA in Spanish
and Sociocultural Psychology from Bates College (2009) in
Lewiston, ME, and a JD from California Western School of
Law (2012) in San Diego, CA. Ms. Jordan is a member of California Western’s School of Law Public Service and Pro Bono
Honor Societies.
15
Public Interest
Lesli Esposito
Blunt v. Lower Merion School District is a civil rights
case currently before the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals.* How did you become involved?
The case revolves around allegations of racial discrimination
in a Philadelphia school district. As a Philadelphia resident,
the case caught my attention in part because it was happening
“in my own backyard.” Attorneys from my firm, DLA, are
working alongside the Public Interest Law Center of
Philadelphia (PILCOP) on the case—it feels like a local effort.
The suit was filed on behalf of six African American
families claiming minority students in the Lower Merion
School District were disproportionately placed into special
education programs. It’s a case of segregation by special
education, which Congress recognized as a nation-wide
problem over a decade ago. Students were placed in remedial
classes away from standard college preparatory classes, they
were improperly identified as learning disabled, and they were
denied access to honors courses. As a result, those students
received a substandard education.
The theme of this case struck a chord for me. It reminds me of
another pro bono project I worked on, which was also about
classifying people based on certain disabilities. That prior case
was about housing choice for individuals with intellectual
disabilities. It was a response to the movement to integrate
people with certain disabilities into the community,
sometimes without considering the best interests of the individuals. In both cases, the treatment of people based on their
classification as “disabled” is troubling.
16
Will you tell us more about that first case?
My work with VOR, a nonprofit advocacy group for people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities, changed my
whole mindset on pro bono work. DLA Piper became involved
at the appellate level of Benjamin v. Department of Public
Welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1:09-cv-01182
(M.D. Pa. 2009), based on a request received from our pro
bono coordinator. At first I thought that writing an amicus
brief for VOR would be just a quick, interesting way to meet
my target for pro bono hours. But, I found myself working
alongside an extraordinary group of people and I grew to
respect and admire the organization. Now, a few years later,
I’m still working with the organization.
VOR witnessed the effect of the late 1990s push to integrate
people with disabilities into the community. A lot of state
facilities were being shut down and people were moved to
community-based housing. Some individuals thrived—but for
some, the move was detrimental to their wellbeing. VOR is not
an organization that believes everyone should be institutionalized; it advocates for choice and a wide variety of care options.
“One size fits all” doesn’t work. VOR was the perfect kind of
organization to take the lead on this issue in Pennsylvania
because of its national perspective; it knew of the atrocities
that occurred in certain instances when people were moved to
inappropriate and often underfunded living situations. VOR
looked to states that had perhaps gone too far, too fast with
the community-integration agenda and communicated those
lessons learned.
How does your firm encourage attorneys to engage
in pro bono work?
DLA Piper has a pro bono requirement, which I think is good
encouragement and can help connect people to various causes.
Really, though, you need to find a cause and a client you care
about—then you’ll really enjoy the work.
If a young professional’s workplace that doesn’t
have a pro bono program, what do you suggest that
he or she do to find pro bono service work?
I suggest looking into nonprofit legal service providers. These
organizations might be geared toward a certain community,
population, or type of law. They are a great source of pro bono
referrals.
Also, consider talking to people at your firm about establishing
a pro bono program; maybe others are interested as well. The
firm might be able to partner with clients to offer specific
services in areas in which they already have experience.
Public Interest
What questions do you ask when screening a
pro bono case?
Ask what’s expected of you. As is true in every project, it is
crucial to understand what the client wants and what they
expect you to do to achieve that outcome. Depending on the
entity with which you’re working (if any), consider asking
how they can support you. If you’re working with a nonprofit
legal service provider, for example, do they have guidelines
outlining the task at hand? Briefs they’ve filed for related
matters? A book about doing adoptions in your state?
What suggestions do you have for young attorneys
who may be hesitant to get involved in pro bono
activities because they feel they lack expertise?
That’s how I felt at first—so know that you’re not alone! I
would get emails through work with lists of pro bono assignments, read through the options, and think to myself, “gosh,
I’ve never done a domestic abuse case.” It can be intimidating
to jump into an area of law you feel you know nothing about.
I’ve found, though, that others are particularly willing to share
their expertise when they know it’s for a pro bono project.
Also, there are all kinds of nonprofit legal organizations, like
PILCOP, standing ready to help. On top of helpful resource
guides, these organizations often have people with the
experience you might feel you lack. For example, some
organizations focus on adoption cases. They have people who
know the process—you might be there to do the heavy lifting,
but they’ll walk with you every step of the way.
Finally, I’ll note that I’m always pleasantly surprised by how
supportive the courts are. Once, I was stuck on a question
about a name change in an adoption case. I ended up calling
the court, and the clerk seemed happy to help. Obviously this
shouldn’t be a starting point in your research, but sometimes it
doesn’t hurt to reach out.
Aside from time constraints, what is the biggest
challenge you face in your pro bono work?
Really, the “scare factor” I mentioned earlier. Feeling intimidated, not knowing where to start, worrying you might make
a mistake…those are big obstacles. For young attorneys in
particular, I’ll point out that these challenges can be opportunities. You might be given more responsibility than you would
otherwise get as a junior associate. Through the Merion case,
for example, several junior associates at DLA Piper got
experience handling depositions. Pro bono work can be a great
way to stand out at your firm.
Do you have any “Do’s and Don’ts” when agreeing
to pro bono representation?
Treat your pro bono work the same way you treat any billable matter. Don’t let the project get lost on your desk. Give
it the same attention, time, and respect as your other work.
Whoever you’re representing deserves that level of service.
Remember that anyone and everyone can affect your reputation. And don’t take your pro bono clients for granted. Yes, you
are helping them—but they are giving you the opportunity to
serve. You never know: the pro bono matter might turn into a
headline-grabbing case; you might be dealing with a sensitive
community issue; or the case could set precedent that will be
followed in decades to come.
* More information about Blunt v. Lower Merion School District and the two
related cases is available at www.pilcop.org/blunt-vs-lmsd/. The summary judgment ruling granted for the defendant in Blunt v. Lower Merion School District,
826 F. Supp. 2d 749 (E.D. Pa. 2011) is before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lesli C. Esposito ([email protected]) is a partner
at DLA Piper in Philadelphia, PA, where her practice focuses
on complex commercial litigation and government investigations, concentrating in the fields of antitrust and consumer
protection. She represents a wide range of corporations, as well
as individuals, as both plaintiffs and defendants. Ms. Esposito
has extensive experience litigating antitrust and consumer
protection matters in both federal and state courts, as well as
representing parties in class actions. She also has extensive
experience representing clients in antitrust and consumer
protection government investigations, including investigations conducted by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade
Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration and
state Attorneys General. Following a federal clerkship, Ms.
Esposito began her private practice in Washington, DC, at a
law firm that concentrates on plaintiffs’ class actions. There,
she was a member of the complex litigation practice group,
focusing on antitrust and consumer protection cases. She litigated a variety of cases involving price fixing, monopolization,
and conspiracy allegations in both federal and state courts, as
well as before the European Commission. Ms. Esposito then
joined the Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition.
As a Lead Attorney at the FTC, she conducted investigations
of proposed mergers and acquisitions and litigated consummated mergers, in the oil and gas, refining, chemical, and
computer software industries. Ms. Esposito graduated from
Case Western Reserve University, School of Law and received
her B.A. from Boston College.
17
Public Interest
Amy Sanders ([email protected]) is
an associate at Bass Berry & Sims PLC in
Nashville, TN. She focuses on operational,
regulatory and transactional work for health
care providers ranging from hospitals and
urgent care centers to home health providers
and hospice. Before joining the firm’s health care group, Ms.
Sanders gained experience at the Tennessee Department of
Health and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Patient and
Professional Advocacy. She earned her law degree from
Vanderbilt University. Ms. Sanders attended Sheridan College
in Oakville, Ontario and received an Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Journalism: New Media and attended The
University of Western Ontario where she received a B.A. in
Media, Information and Technoculture.
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Public Interest
Tracy A. Jessner Hale
Describe your initial involvement in the Los
Angeles County Bar Association AIDS Legal
Services Project (ALSP)?
I first became involved when, as a first year associate, a partner
who frequently worked with ALSP asked me to handle an
appeal of an adverse Social Security Disability Insurance
determination for one of ALSP’s clients. The individual had
been denied his benefits despite being extremely ill and unable
to work. I eventually represented the client at an ALJ hearing
for that appeal, and obtained a favorable decision for the client.
The individual received benefits going forward as well as retroactive back pay.
What suggestions do you have for young attorneys
who may be hesitant to get involved in pro bono
activities because they feel they lack expertise?
I encourage young attorneys to get involved in pro bono
projects. Not only will they be able to use their skills in order
to benefit the community, but it will have a positive impact on
their practice as well. It is helpful to pick projects that relate to
your practice area. For example, if they are a litigator, they can
get hearing experience representing clients at administrative
hearings. If they do corporate work, they could help a nonprofit with its corporate formation to learn about that process.
I encourage then to get creative! If they feel they lack
experience, they should ask a more senior attorney to advise
them. Not only is this a great way to learn, but it can give them
an opportunity to work with various attorneys at their firm.
It has also been my experience that pro bono organizations
provide training and support for their volunteer attorneys.
Without disclosing any confidential information,
can you tell us about a case you handled, a client
you helped?
Through ALSP, I represented a client in appealing the
termination of his long term disability benefits, which had
been terminated because the insurance company misinterpreted what his physician had reported about the status of
condition. He was very ill, and relied on that income because
he could no longer work. By gathering medical records and
statements from his physicians, I was able to have the decision overturned, and his benefits reinstated with back pay.
Less than six months later, he passed away. As sad as I was
that my former client had passed away, I know that by helping
him receive his benefits, he was able to live with a little more
comfort, stability and dignity.
What advantages does your partnership with
ALSP offer?
The advantage of working with the ALSP is that I get to
work with Laurie Aronoff, the Program’s Director, who does
an excellent job of coordinating attorney volunteers. The
Program screens their clients, and does some of the background legwork, so by the time a matter is referred to me, I
already know the issues and general game plan for that matter.
Furthermore, she is able to break matters into different components if a project would be too much for any one attorney. For
instance I assisted a client who has their SSDI terminated due
to an adverse disability determination as well as issues with the
client’s immigration status. I was able to appeal the disability
determination while another attorney handled the immigration issue. By being able to draw on a pool of volunteers with
different backgrounds, she was able to get representation for a
client who had a complex case.
How is your pro bono work different from your
day-to-day work? How do you transition between
the two?
My pro bono work fits fairly seamlessly into my day-to-day
work. I treat pro bono matters exactly as I would treat any
other matter I am working on. I am fortunate to work for a
firm that supports its attorneys’ pro bono efforts.
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Public Interest
Do you have any “Dos and Don’ts” when agreeing
to pro bono representation?
While far from a comprehensive list, I would have a few “dos
and don’ts” for agreeing to pro bono representation. Do treat a
pro bono client like any other client. Our professional
responsibilities extend to all clients, regardless of what they
pay. Don’t overcommit, it is important to be honest and
upfront about your workload. There may be a way to split up a
project that allows you to still be involved but not overloaded.
Do clearly set forth, and agree upon, the scope of your
representation with the client. Don’t: volunteer for an
organization before understanding their policies, level of
involvement/support/training, requirements, and expectations.
Do keep an open mind. Pro bono work can take many forms,
it could be an individual project or case, or it could be a clinic
you attend regularly. Find something that works for you.
Tracy A. Jessner Hale ([email protected]), an associate with Hooper Lundy & Bookman PC, has been an active
volunteer with the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s AIDS
Legal Services Project (ALSP) for the past five years. ALSP
assists low-income individuals living with HIV and AIDS.
The ALSP assists with a wide range of HIV related legal
issues estate planning, debt relief, insurance, employment,
HIV discrimination in health care and public access and
breaches of HIV confidentiality. Ms. Hale received B.A.
degrees in Biological Sciences and Political Science, cum laude,
20
with a Minor in Bioethics, from the University of Southern
California, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of
Southern California School of Law, where she was a member
of the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal. Ms.
Hale is a member of Hooper Lundy & Bookman’s Regulatory
Department, and has a broad range of experience in assisting
health care providers, including hospitals, pharmacies, and
physicians, with licensure and certification, regulatory
compliance, and payment and operational issues, as well
as ownership changes. She is also experienced in assisting
providers in reviewing and negotiating managed care
contracts.
Lauren A. DeWitt ([email protected]) is an
associate in Schenck Price Smith & King’s
Health Care Law Practice Group, as well as
the Corporate and Pharmaceutical Industry
and Pharmacy Practice Groups. She focuses
her practice on representing health systems,
hospitals, surgery centers and health care providers with
respect to their corporate, transactional and regulatory needs.
Ms. DeWitt is experienced in a wide range of health care law
including, fraud and abuse, Anti-Kickback laws, Stark Law,
HIPAA, Medicare reimbursement, government and third
party payer audits and general regulatory compliance. Ms.
DeWitt also has extensive pharmaceutical experience in the
areas of FDA labeling, packaging, sales and marketing.
Public Interest
Dayna Nicholson
Describe your initial involvement in [the cause/organization].
Ms. Nicholson and other members of her firm serve as regulatory
counsel for the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles
County (CCALAC) on a pro bono basis. By way of background,
CCALAC serves and represents the interests of its free and
community clinic Members. CCALAC has 55 Members that
operate over 197 sites in L.A. County and serve over one million
patients per year. CCALAC’s Member-clinics provide quality
primary care (including medical, dental, and mental health
services) for the uninsured and medical underserved populations.
Ms. Nicholson has provided pro bono legal services to CCALAC
since 2003 by assisting with its regulatory and compliance work,
including advising the organization on HIPAA regulations,
drafting Memoranda of Understanding for different projects
CCALAC undertakes, and assisting with contract review/negotiation for arrangements with entities such as vendors, payers,
pharmacy providers and local government agencies.
How and why did you choose to do what you are doing?
Ms. Nicholson’s pro bono work with CCALAC fits right into her
skill set as a practicing health care attorney. She is able to assist
CCALAC given her experience and background in health care.
What suggestions do you have for young attorneys
who may be hesitant to get involved in pro bono
activities because they feel they lack expertise?
“Find a mentor to guide you,” says Ms. Nicholson. She further
explained that partners “within a law firm can be excellent
resources.” If you are a solo practitioner, she recommends
pairing up with another attorney or reaching out to other organizations, such as Public Counsel in Los Angeles (the largest pro
bono law firm in the country), that may have other resources to
guide young attorneys.
What is your favorite memory from a case that you
handled?
Ms. Nicholson is most proud of her efforts on behalf of
CCALAC in negotiations between CCALAC and the Los
Angeles County Department of Health Services. Specifically,
this was a negotiation to implement a program known as
Healthy Way LA (HWLA), which was a precursor to health care
reform. Under HWLA local community and free clinics provide
care at no cost to eligible, low-income uninsured residents of
LA County. Benefits including primary and preventive care
services, access to specialty services, access to mental health
services, 24/7 customer service and nurse advice lines and
improved access to appointments. At its peak, HWLA provided
health care coverage for over 200,000 beneficiaries at over 100
clinical sites. With health care reform, a large percentage of
the HWLA beneficiaries have transitioned to the Medi-Cal
program. However, there are still a large group of the uninsured
that will continue to utilize the HWLA, and Ms. Nicholson is
looking forward to assisting CCALAC in additional negotiations related to that program (for more information on HWLA,
go to http://dpss.lacounty.gov/dpss/health/healthyway.cfm).
Aside from time constraints, what is the biggest
challenge you face in your pro bono work?
“The varied and novel legal questions posed by CCALAC and
its Member-clinics,” said Ms. Nicholson. “These organizations
are working hard to provide as much health care as possible on
severely limited budgets, and they often propose interesting and
creative solutions that need legal vetting.”
What drew you to this area of the law?
In addition to attending law school, Nicholson earned a
Master’s degree in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health, which provided her with
a foundation for practicing law in the health care field. The
Hopkins’ curriculum was broad-based, including disciplines
such as biostatistics, epidemiology and international health. The
coursework significantly expanded Nicholson’s perspective of
what it means to work “in health care.”
How is your pro bono work different from your day-today work? How do you transition between the two?
Ms. Nicholson’s pro bono work is not different from her day-today work. She incorporates the projects she handles for CCALAC
into her day in the same way that she would any other client.
How many hours a year do you spend on pro bono
matters?
“50 hours at a minimum (but usually more).”
21
Public Interest
Do you have any “Dos and Don’ts” when agreeing to
pro bono representation?
Ms. Nicholson advises young attorneys “to always perform a
conflicts check.” She also suggests finding a mentor to guide
you and assist you along the way. Finally, she recommends that
“young attorneys should make sure they have adequate resources,
support, and malpractice insurance before taking on a case.”
How has your pro bono service made you a (more
effective/better health lawyer?
In Ms. Nicolson’s experience, her pro bono work with CCALAC
has made her a better/more effective attorney because it
supports the broader perspective of health care that she began
developing in her MPH studies. It also has been a terrific skillbuilding experience, as she frequently interacts with the client
and its constituents, has been called upon to lead meetings and
provide educational programs, and has provided counsel on a
wide array of different legal topics.
Does your firm/organization require pro bono hours?
“It is not required, but it is strongly encouraged,” says Ms. Nicholson.
“As a firm, Pepper Hamilton has pledged to devote an amount equal
to three percent of its billable hours to pro bono work.”
How does your firm encourage attorneys to engage
in pro bono?
Pepper Hamilton has a Director of Pro Bono services who also is a
practicing attorney. The Director helps to meet the firm’s pro bono
goals and encourages associates to take on pro bono matters by
presenting them with various opportunities, such as referrals from
public interest law centers and organizations.
If a young professional doesn’t have a pro bono
program in place where they work, what would
you suggest that he do first if he were interested in
setting up a pro bono program? Or if he were interested in providing pro bono service on his own?
Ms. Nicholson recommends that young professionals “reach
out to public interest law centers, such as Public Counsel or
Bet Tzedek in Los Angeles, since these organizations already
have the bandwidth and resources to assist an attorney in
providing pro bono services.” She also recommends volunteering for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Volunteer Attorney
or TAP programs, which provide excellent litigation training.
According to Nicholson, a factor in settling on a pro bono
opportunity is that the experience will enhance a skill-set that
translates into the attorney’s daily practice. Doing so will make
the experience more enjoyable, and will provide one more
reason to keep up the good (pro bono) work.
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Dayna C. Nicholson ([email protected]) is a
senior associate in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group
of Pepper Hamilton LLP, resident in the Los Angeles and
Orange County offices. Ms. Nicholson focuses her practice on
health care-related matters, such as licensing and other regulatory compliance, peer review and credentialing, and corporate
and medical staff governance. Her clients include hospitals,
medical staffs, managed care organizations, medical groups,
medical device retailers and other health care providers. Prior
to joining Pepper, Ms. Nicholson was a senior associate with the
law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, where she handled health
care law and health litigation matters. In that role, Ms. Nicholson wrote frequently about issues related to HIPAA regulations and enforcement, patient safety and information privacy
violations, and health care payment matters, and regularly
assisted clients in those areas. Before attending law school, Ms.
Nicholson worked for a physician services organization, where
she prepared presentation materials for physician and hospital
clients, engaged in data analysis and database design, and
submitted required monthly reports to health plans.
Ms. Nicholson is active in a number of professional organizations.
She serves on the board of directors and as a past president of the
Women in Health Administration of Southern California. Ms.
Nicholson is chair of the executive committee of the Health Law
Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, having previously served as the section’s vice chair, secretary and treasurer.
Ms. Nicholson received her J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown
University Law Center and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins
University Bloomberg School of Public Health in a joint-degree
program. She received her B.S., cum laude, in business administration from Pepperdine University. While attending Georgetown,
Ms. Nicholson was a Law Fellow and participated in the Federal
Legislation Clinic, focusing her research on the provision of
Medicaid benefits to foster children in the District of Columbia.
Kristen Blanchette (kristenblanchette@
dwt.com), an associate at David Wright
Tremaine LLP in Los Angeles, CA, counsels
clients in health care law. She advises on risk
management and regulatory compliance issues
and defends medical malpractice claims. Ms.
Blanchette also assists in the development of policies, quality
management plans, and departmental protocols. She received
her J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law
(formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center) in 2010. She was Senior
Editor of the Pierce Law Review, a Daniel Webster Honor
Scholar, and Regional Winner and National Participant in the
National Trial Competition Texas Young Lawyers Association.
Ms. Blanchette received her B.A. in Social Science from
Dartmouth College in 2007.
Public Interest
Nathan (Nate) M.
Lacktman
How did you first become involved with pro bono
work?
An early experience with volunteer legal services was as a
high school student, working with the Teen Court program in
Sarasota, Florida. Teen Court is a juvenile diversion program
wherein first time offenders can plead guilty and have their
case heard and sentenced at a hearing where peer teenagers
serve as defense counsel, prosecution and jury. After opening
and closing arguments, evidence, and direct and crossexamination, the teen jury determines the punishment and
renders a sentence. If the defendant successfully completes the
sentence, the charges are dismissed and the defendant has no
juvenile record–a clean slate opportunity.
As a high school student, I loved the program and believed
it was innovative and worthwhile. Two decades later, I now
serve as a pro bono judge for the Teen Court program through
the Hillsborough County Court in Tampa, presiding over the
hearings. Hearings are every Tuesday night at the courthouse,
so it’s a good example of a time-defined pro bono project.
Please share a particular story of a pro bono client
that you helped?
As a first year associate with Foley & Lardner in Los Angeles,
I handled an immigration asylum matter for a Pentecostal
preacher from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Due to his
beliefs and statements, he endured torture at the hands of local
government and paramilitary individuals. He fled the country
and eventually made his way to the United States seeking
asylum.
From the onset, this case was challenging as the client spoke
only French and Lingala (the local dialect). Despite my
rudimentary French, we had a language barrier throughout the
representation. For example, during his final asylum examination, the interviewer sought to test the client’s claim that he
was a preacher, and asked the client to describe who was Saint
Stephen (a martyr named in the New Testament Acts). The
client stammered, replying there was no Saint Stephen in the
Bible. Fortunately, we realized that, in the French translation,
Saint Stephen is known as Saint Étienne. Although we cleared
it up, things got tense for a minute.
That was a very memorable case and I vividly recall completing
the affidavit with the client and describing, in detail, the
torture he and his family suffered. I still have the application
package with all the research and documentation. The case
improved my independent research skills and built my
confidence as a new attorney. Ultimately, the client received
asylum and eventually brought his family to the United States.
What suggestions do you have for young attorneys
who may be hesitant to get involved with pro bono
activities because they feel they lack expertise?
Just jump right into it. You may not be a full-fledged expert
in that specific area of the law, but there are tons of resources
to assist you. Many times, you are the pro bono client’s best
chance at quality legal representation. That isn’t to say that
pro bono work is just a safety net where you can cut your teeth
in practice. It is not, and should not be viewed as “training
grounds.” But, if you are passionate about it, and put the time
in, you can give that pro bono client a much better chance than
they otherwise would have received.
Does your organization, Foley & Lardner, provide
support for your pro bono matters?
Foley & Lardner has a robust pro bono program and considers
pro bono work an integral part of practicing law.
Approximately 90% of our attorneys do pro bono work, with
most of them contributing over 20 hours per year. The Firm
automatically allows 100 hours of billable credit for pro bono
work with no questions asked. And you can seek approval
for more. We have attorneys with several hundred hours of
pro bono work in one year, all counting toward their billable
hours. I also serve on the firm’s Tampa pro bono committee.
Pro bono opportunities come into the firm through other
attorneys or through local programs and then are distributed.
I receive most of my pro bono matters that way.
23
Public Interest
We also have a number of pro bono practice groups, including
a strong political asylum practice. I was able to tap into that
expertise when I needed it for my first political asylum case.
Additionally, since we have no absolute limit on the hours
we can spend on a pro bono case, we are able to invest the
necessary effort and time to figure out the facts, issues and law
for a pro bono matter.
What types of skills do you rely on most in your
pro bono representation?
As a health care lawyer who handles a lot of regulatory and
compliance matters, my daily work doesn’t typically include
a lot of oratory or trial work. With my pro bono clients, I find
myself drawing on the advocacy and oratory skills I used more
frequently in law school before I became a health care lawyer. By
embracing the exploration of new areas of practice in a pro bono
setting, I’m able to draw from those other skills that I enjoy using
that I may not otherwise have a chance to use in my normal
health care practice. Junior lawyers (really, all lawyers) should
embrace something that you don’t typically do in your day-today work. Pro bono can serve as an opportunity to strengthen
your other skill sets and experiences in other areas.
Describe an unexpected benefit of the pro bono
work you do.
Pro bono work can help advance interesting and innovative
health care arrangements that would otherwise not have the
funding to pay for lawyers.
One real world example of this is an organization known as
Health Leads. We serve as Health Leads’ pro bono general
counsel. Health Leads works to break the link between poverty
and poor health. It establishes resource desks with proprietary
software in hospitals and clinics that give the institutions
the capability to address social determinants of health (e.g.,
food, housing, transitional assistance, health insurance, etc).
Doctors in participating clinics “prescribe” food, fuel assistance, housing or other resources for their patients the same
way they might prescribe medication. Trained college volunteers then work to fill the “prescriptions” which are meant
to treat the underlying social and environmental causes of
patients’ health problems.
The Health Leads arrangement may seem straightforward
to non-lawyers, but we health care lawyers understand how
difficult and complex it can be when there are corporate,
governance, HIPAA privacy, health information technology
contracting, provider contracting, ACA, intellectual property,
and a myriad of operational issues, etc. There are all sorts of
issues with an innovative health care arrangement such as
24
this. It would have been terrible to see a nonprofit like Health
Leads–which is now national and one of the fastest growing
nonprofits in the country–get squashed at the formative stages
because they couldn’t afford proper legal counsel. This is just
one example of a sophisticated health law practice handling
pro bono work to help improve health care for all.
How do you balance the needs and demands of
your paying clients with those of your pro bono
clients?
My personal belief is that nobody’s pro bono matter or client
is more noble or worthy than somebody else’s pro bono client.
When I take on a pro bono client, it’s because I believe in the
cause and consider it worthy of my time and effort.
Unfortunately, not everyone views pro bono clients this way
when comparing them to billable clients. This can become
even more of a challenge at the associate level with billable
hour demands. Ultimately, if you choose to take on a pro bono
matter, you must make time for it just like any other engagement. Take the matter because you find it important and of
value professionally or personally. If you don’t find it important
or don’t have the time to devote, then don’t take on the matter.
Really, this applies to both billable and pro bono clients.
How do you estimate in advance the resources and
time that a pro bono matter may take?
Our billable clients expect budgets, cost estimates and
frequently seek fixed fee arrangements. When estimating
resources for a pro bono matter, follow the same approach
you use for billable clients. Prepare a budget of your time and
consult with other attorneys in your firm or local area if you’re
uncertain of the hours and resources a particular matter may
need. Always perform a conflicts check and execute a proper
engagement letter. Keep in mind, many pro bono opportunities
are more defined and discreet in terms of time commitment.
The Teen Court program is one example. And most cities have
a program whereby you can assist those in need with filling out
legal forms (such as living wills, child support, etc.). In Tampa,
this is called the Family Forms Clinic and they do great work.
These programs usually have a defined time and resource
requirement.
Historically, how have you become introduced to
your pro bono clients/matters?
Because Foley & Lardner has a large and well-developed pro
bono program, most opportunities are filtered and distributed
through those internal channels. I also serve on the firm’s
Tampa pro bono committee. But we also get opportunities
from other attorneys or local legal services programs. I receive
most of my pro bono matters that way.
Public Interest
How has your pro bono service made you a more
effective health lawyer?
My pro bono experiences have allowed me to exercise skills
that I don’t otherwise use in my day-to-day health care practice. The diversity of work and broadening of perspective has
allowed me to become not only a better health care lawyer, but
a better lawyer in general.
Do you have any “Dos and Don’ts” when agreeing
to pro bono representation?
It is important to believe in the pro bono matter and client
you choose to represent. Pro bono is part of our professional
commitment as attorneys; don’t just use it as a metric or to
check off a box. So be certain you really want to take on the
work before you commit.
Treat your pro bono clients like any other client. Don’t make
a pro bono client feel he isn’t worthy of your time and efforts
just because he isn’t paying a bill. And if you’re accustomed
to representing sophisticated entities and clients, you may
need to take it a little slower with your pro bono clients and
really explain things. Put yourself in your client’s shoes; try to
connect and understand their fears and concerns.
If a young professional doesn’t have a pro bono
program in place where they work, what would
you suggest that he do first if he were interested in
setting up a pro bono program?
Reach out to friends in other firms that already have a pro
bono program in place. Local bar associations or other local
pro bono organizations are a great resource as they likely have
materials that specifically address how to form and implement
a pro bono program. It may seem intimidating at first, but
there are many people and organizations that have started
these programs before, so instead of trying to take that full
burden on yourself, enlist the help of those other organizations
in your area. Most of them are more than willing to share their
resources, materials and experiences.
Nathaniel (Nate) Lacktman ([email protected]) is a
partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and a Certified Compliance
& Ethics Professional (CCEP). He is a member of the firm’s
Health Care Industry Team which was named “Law Firm of
the Year—Health Care Law” for the third consecutive year
on the 2014 U.S. News–Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” list.
A particular focus of his practice is telehealth, telemedicine
and mHealth arrangements. He advises a number of clients–
including hospitals, facilities, physician groups and business
entrepreneurs–on the emerging opportunities and regulatory issues presented by telemedicine and telehealth. He also
advises DMEPOS suppliers, skilled nursing facilities, pharmacies, hospitals, physician practices, health plans, consultants
and vendors, and a variety of other health care entities on a
range of business and regulatory issues affecting the industry.
He handles matters involving contracting fraud and abuse
compliance, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, selfdisclosures and overpayments, the Anti-Kickback Statute,
physician self-referral laws, health care marketing rules,
corporate compliance programs, licensing, contracting,
change of ownership, and confidentiality and information
sharing. A frequent author and speaker on telehealth issues
and health care compliance, Mr. Lacktman is listed in 2013
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers. He is
a graduate of the University of Southern California School
of Law and the University of Florida and the proud parent of
three children: two boys and a 1977 Ford Bronco.
Thomas (T.J.) Ferrante (tferrante@cfjblaw.
com) is an associate at Carlton Fields in
Tampa, FL, where he focuses his practice on a
wide range of transactional and related
regulatory issues for health industry clients,
including for-profit and not-for-profit
hospitals and health systems, multi-specialty physician
practice groups, and long-term care providers. He also advises
health care clients in all aspects of federal and state regulatory
matters and handles federal and state tax matters with respect
to individual, corporate, tax exempt organization, and
pass-through entities. Mr. Ferrante received a B.A. in
Philosophy and Spanish from the College of the Holy Cross in
Worcester, MA, and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Sykes
College of Business at the University of Tampa. Mr. Ferrante
then received his J.D. and LL.M. in Taxation from Boston
University School of Law.
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Public Interest
American Health Lawyers Association
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