Dentons’ Health Care practice represents a wide variety of clients, including health systems, community hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, physician groups, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, municipal health departments, managed care organizations and health insurance companies. Our talented team of health care lawyers advises on a broad range of issues, including transactions, licensing and accreditation, fraud and abuse, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and compliance, managed care contracting, public finance matters and much more.

Kimberly Kerry, the office managing partner in our San Francisco/Oakland office, is a member and chair of Dentons’ Health Care practice. “I’ve always described our Health Care Group as being similar to a boutique practice within the larger firm, where the practice has available to it a deep bench of experienced attorneys in other practice areas that can support our clients, and other resources at our fingertips that may not be available at a smaller firm,” she says.

We sat down with Kim to talk about why she chose Dentons, her proudest professional moments and how she’d like to see the Health Care group grow moving forward.

Why is Dentons the right place for you?

I have been at Dentons for almost nine years and the reason Dentons is the right fit for me is because of the team that is in place in the Health Care group. We have a very experienced team of attorneys that has practiced together for a long time, creating an extremely collaborative culture where everybody helps and supports each other and makes sure that we’re doing the best work for our clients. In addition, the firm has a lot of other practice areas – for example, Public Policy, Real Estate, Venture Tech, Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy, Antitrust – that provide needed ancillary support to what I do in health care. Further, we have a global platform that opens up a lot of doors and opportunities. We have a lot of resources to pull from to support our clients both domestically and internationally, if needed.

What’s the most meaningful part of your job?

Helping the client solve a problem – trying to find a way to meet their business goals and figure out legally how we can get them there. Also, the interaction with clients that is needed to understand their business and support their objectives, and the collaboration with my partners, associates and other business professional colleagues. Building a team to help our clients succeed in what they’re trying to do.

Speaking of success, what is one achievement that you’re particularly proud of?

My representation of a hospital in Southern California in its separation from its affiliation with a Catholic health system. Over many years, the representation included advice on strategy, governance matters, the settlement agreement and options to address outstanding bond debt and establish a new credit structure. All of the legal work helped the client to achieve its objective of becoming independent to be able to best meet the health care needs of the communities it serves. The appreciation from the client once independence was successfully achieved was worth the years it took to get there.

What would you say are Dentons’ Health Care group’s greatest strengths?

One of the things that is continually raised in group meetings is the culture of the group and the importance of retaining it. This group of attorneys has been together for a while and really wants to support each other professionally and personally. These are good people and they want to make sure that everyone is happy. As the chair of the group, I agree that culture is really important, and it is always a part of any discussion about the strategic plans for the Health Care practice.

How would you like to see the group evolve and grow?

We want to take the deep regulatory bench that currently exists within the group – fraud and abuse, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, regulatory compliance, HIPAA, privacy, all the various aspects of a regulatory health care practice – and continue to build on that strength. We want to grow in the areas that we see our clients needing, especially in the transactional and digital health spaces. One of the other areas that we would like to grow is our FDA capacity because there is a lot of opportunity to grow the Health Care practice in the pharma and life sciences space. Our group wants to provide clients with a one-stop shop.

We are looking for candidates who can come in and really own the space that they’re in. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the candidate has practiced for a significant number of years as a partner. It could be someone that’s on the cusp of becoming partner or who is a relatively junior partner who wants to take their career to the next level and sees the potential that the Dentons platform and resources have to offer.

Do you find that Dentons is more diverse and inclusive than most other firms?

I think diversity and inclusion is a very big focus in the Firm and leadership is always trying to advance diversity and inclusiveness. We’ve seen this through the establishment of ally pods and the many other initiatives and programming that the Firm has put together. For example, shortly before I became a partner, I was asked to participate in a program to support women in their business development efforts in the years before and right after becoming partner. The Firm has also developed mentoring programs to support our diverse partners and associates. These programs help women and other diverse partners and associates to advance their careers, network with others in the Firm and become an integral part of the culture at Dentons.

Diversity is not just something that the Firm talks about. You can see the results of the Firm’s efforts when you look at the composition of our board, our CEO and all of the other leadership positions. It’s clearly something that we emphasize when recruiting and promoting as well. Our partner class last year was one of the most diverse that we’ve had at the Firm.

Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you’d like to mention?

One thing that’s important to highlight is the work that we do related to the integration of lateral partners. We have a practice integration manager who is focused solely on the integration of laterals into the Firm. Over the last few years there have been several partners who have integrated into the Health Care group, and the practice integration manager has assisted with their integration every step of the way, meeting with them on a regular basis to check on how things are going and making introductions to others within the Firm that the lateral should get to know. I think we do a really good job of making sure that when someone joins the Firm, we’re supporting them and what they want to do with their practice.

About Dentons

Across over 80 countries, Dentons helps you grow, protect, operate and finance your organization by providing uniquely global and deeply local legal solutions. Polycentric, purpose-driven and committed to inclusion and sustainability, we focus on what matters most to you. www.dentons.com