(Photo: Shutterstock) (Photo: Shutterstock)

Health care lawyer Michelle Williams has joined Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz as a shareholder from Alston & Bird.

Williams advises hospitals and health systems on the regulatory aspects of hospital acquisitions and integration, which includes obtaining state and federal approvals. She said she joined Baker Donelson because of its extensive health care practice, which has about 200 lawyers, more than a quarter of the Southeastern firm's roughly 700 lawyers. Baker Donelson, which is 64th in the Am Law 100 revenue rankings, has an established Atlanta office with almost 70 lawyers.

"Michelle is well known and very highly regarded in the Southeastern health care market," said Gary Barnes, who heads Baker Donelson's Georgia offices, in a statement. "Her addition to our Atlanta health care team presents an exciting opportunity to expand our work in the health care space and to better serve our existing clients in the Southeast and throughout the U.S."

A microbiologist by training, Williams has spent her entire career representing hospitals, starting with an in-house stint at the University of Cleveland Hospitals, where she had been working as a medical technician while in law school at Case Western Reserve University. After another in-house position at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland, she joined Alston & Bird in 1991.

Williams said that her practice has changed over the years because of the onset of health system consolidations. Those transactions, she said, are almost all that she does now. "I'm not a corporate lawyer. I work with hospitals—one of the most regulated entities in the country—on the regulatory aspects of buy-sell transactions."

Baker Donelson has been investing in health care law. In 2017, it acquired a 110-lawyer firm with a large health care practice, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, which has offices in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Williams said that the merger was an impetus for her to join Baker Donelson. "I've known the Ober Kaler lawyers since my University of Cleveland Hospitals days, and they are excellent lawyers. A lot come from government, so they have insight into the health care regulatory framework at federal agencies."

While she's worked on consolidations in California and other states, the majority of Williams' work is currently in Georgia, she said. She declined to name hospital clients without approval.

"Alston & Bird is an incredible firm. I am withdrawing from the partnership, but not from my friendships," Williams added.

Williams is a former president of the Georgia Academy of Hospital Attorneys, and she is a board member and legal counsel for Georgia BIO, a nonprofit promoting the growth of the state's life sciences industry.

BRIEFLY

Derek Swanson has rejoined Dentons as counsel in its corporate practice from Chart Industries, where he was acting general counsel and secretary. Chart Industries, a publicly held company with $1.2 billion in annual revenue, manufactures cryogenic equipment for the liquid natural gas supply chain and for biological storage systems. Swanson also was senior counsel from 2014 to 2017 at Ciner Resources, which manufactures and distributes environmentally friendly soda ash.

Prior to his foray in-house, Swanson was an associate with Dentons' legacy firm, McKenna Long & Aldridge in Atlanta. He also has worked as an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission. At Dentons, Swanson is handling corporate and corporate finance matters for public and private companies, as well as securities and capital market transactions for issuers and other parties.

Morris, Manning & Martin has added James Watson to its bankruptcy practice as of counsel from Womble Bond Dickinson. Watson represents secured lenders and special servicers in large bankruptcy matters including workouts, Chapter 11 cases and creditor rights litigation. He also advises borrowers in industries including hospitality, construction, retail and food service. Watson is an officer of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute, a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and serves on the board of the Southeastern Bankruptcy Law Institute.

Burr & Forman has hired Michele Reddick as counsel for its corporate and tax practice, focused on its food and beverage team, from an in-house counsel position at Bickers Consulting Group, which serves family-owned businesses and the beverage industry. With a background in trust and estates and corporate law, Reddick represents individual and corporate clients, including beverage wholesalers and other family-owned businesses.

Kade Cullefer has joined Troutman Sanders Strategies' government affairs team as a director from Smith Gambrell & Russell. Cullefer was the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's vice president of legal from 2011 to 2018. He was also the executive director of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, which launched in 2017 and is chaired by Tye Darland, the general counsel of Georgia-Pacific.

Personal injury firm Penn Law has hired two experienced plaintiffs lawyers, Scott Patterson and Jim Seifter, giving the firm seven attorneys. Patterson, who has about 20 years of experience handling personal injury, product liability, premises liability and vehicular accident cases, joined from his own Marietta personal injury firm, The Patterson Cozzo Law Firm.

Seifter, who joined from The Law Offices of Craig D. Miller, has 36 years of experience handling medical negligence, vehicular accident and other personal injury cases. He was co-counsel in the Franklin Ford v. Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company case, which lasted more than 10 years and resulted in a then-record verdict in 1997 of almost $43 million. (That was overturned on appeal, and the case later settled.)

Jennifer Roberts has joined litigation boutique Lazega & Johanson, which represents community associations, as of counsel. She joins from her own firm, where she handled civil litigation in state courts and business law matters. Roberts also has 15 years of experience in federal civil practice from stints as a staff attorney for the U.S. District Courts from 2002 to 2017.

Polsinelli has elected 31 new shareholders, including two in its Atlanta office. Ray Lindholm is a health care lawyer who handles business and regulatory issues, while Ellen Persons, a former assistant U.S. attorney, has a government investigations practice.