The Legal 500

Within Healthcare and life sciences, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. is a first tier firm,

‘A very large boutique with some very fine lawyers’, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. is one of the grand old giants of the space, and ‘a good healthcare practice’. In particular, it has ‘a very good health plan and Washington DC practice’, and ‘what it does, it does well’. The firm represents numerous hospitals, health systems and managed care organizations, as well as health insurers, on the full range of needs including transactions and commercial advice, labor and employment, litigation and regulations. Chairman of the firm Douglas Hastings led advice to Sibley Memorial Hospital in 2010 on its absorption into Johns Hopkins Health System, and acted for both clients on regulatory approval. On the investment side, the practice represented Radius Ventures in venture capital investment into HealthSense Inc. The firm’s litigators successfully defended Nycomed Inc in Severine v Doak Dermatologics et al, a case centering on racial and religious discrimination claims, as well as alleged breaches of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act. The case was dismantled through a mix of summary judgment and a two-hour jury verdict. In August 2010, the firm acted as co-counsel for Fallon Community Health Plan in overturning a Massachusetts Division of Insurance decision to reject the client’s request for approval of premium-rate increases. The firm also represents a number of educational healthcare facilities and notably won a protection order for Mount Sinai School of Medicine to ward off a subpoena for the unpublished and private correspondence of the late Dr Irving Selikof. The judgment held that private material of an academic should not be subject to subpoena if not directly involved in the litigation from which the subpoena arose. The firm also advises life sciences manufacturers on issues such as Medicaid reimbursement, FDA approvals and interaction, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and federal and state rules. Steven Epstein and New York-based Jeffrey Becker, two of the founding partners, are ‘strong and very senior lawyers’, with the latter particularly well regarded for his corporate and transactional capabilities. Healthcare fraud expert David Matyas is ‘a real leader and very strong on the law’.

Within Labor and employment litigation, tier 4

From offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Stamford and Washington DC, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.’s lawyers defend individual and class action cases in judicial, administrative and arbitral forums. The firm has extensively represented hospitals and health systems, biotechnology and life sciences companies, health plans and healthcare insurers, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and academic medical centers. New York-based Ronald Green manages the firm’s nationwide labor and employment practice. Peter Stein and Martin Wickliff are also recommended.