US national firm Barnes & Thornburg has hired a 12-lawyer team from K&L Gates to bolster its healthcare practice.
The team is led by partners Kelsey Jernigan and John Lawrence and will be based in Raleigh, with Lawrence serving as office managing partner and Jernigan appointed director of healthcare regulatory services.
Joining them are partners Jared Burtner, Nathan Huff, Carolyn Merritt, McNair Nichols and Rebecca Schaefer, alongside associates Christian Flemming and Michael Phillips.
The incoming group bring expertise in healthcare regulatory, compliance, data privacy, clinical research and transactions, representing hospitals, health systems, academic medical centres, physician groups, laboratories, pharma companies and other healthcare organisations.
Andrew Detherage, managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg, said: “Healthcare has been a strategic growth focus for us, and this team immediately enhances our capabilities in one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy while strengthening our presence in the Southeast, an increasingly important market for healthcare and life sciences innovation. They are a perfect fit for our culture.”
Jernigan and Lawrence were co-leaders of K&L Gates’ healthcare and FDA practice group, with Lawrence making partner in the firm’s 2020 promotions round and Jernigan in 2021.
Government enforcement and investigations and False Claims Act specialist Burtner makes partner on his arrival to Barnes & Thornburg, having been a senior associate at K&L Gates. He previously practised at Phelps Dunbar.
Huff, meanwhile, is a commercial disputes and investigations lawyer, spending four and a half years as a partner at K&L Gates and eight years as a partner at Phelps Dunbar before that.
Nichols arrives after nine years at K&L Gates, making partner at the start of this year. He specialises in white collar defence and investigations.
Schaefer joins after almost eight years at K&L Gates, where she was a partner specialising in healthcare research regulation and transactions. She was previously an associate university counsel at the University of North Carolina and an associate at Latham & Watkins.
John Kelly, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s healthcare department, said: “Our clients are confronting unprecedented regulatory scrutiny alongside rapid change across the healthcare industry. John and Kelsey have assembled an exceptional team that is highly regarded for guiding healthcare organisations through their most sophisticated litigation, enforcement and regulatory challenges.”
The group are the sixth lateral team arrival this year, following a 39-lawyer public finance and infrastructure group who joined in February and March from Ballard Spahr; a 12-lawyer insurance recovery team and a six-lawyer tax and insurance recovery team from Lowenstein Sander and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in April, respectively; a three-lawyer entertainment team from Nixon Peabody in May and a three-lawyer white-collar group from Vedder Price and Cleary Gottlieb in July.
K&L Gates' global managing partner, Stacy Ackermann, said: "K&L Gates continues to maintain a premier healthcare practice with a longstanding presence in the Carolinas, enhanced by the depth and reach of our national and global platform. Our experienced legal team continues to serve clients without interruption, delivering the exceptional service, responsiveness, and industry knowledge our clients expect. We remain focused on our clients and the continued strategic growth of our firm."
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