U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C./Photo by Michael A. Scarcella/ALM

A top-ranking lawyer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently got a temporary promotion.

HHS Principal Deputy General Counsel Heather Flick has been named acting assistant secretary for administration, a role she will fill until that position is filled permanently. Flick replaces John Bardis, who left the agency last week. Her appointment was one of several that HHS Commissioner Alex Azar announced last week.

It's not the first time Flick has filled in during an absence. She served as HHS' acting general counsel until current GC Robert Charrow, a former Greenberg Traurig shareholder, was confirmed by the Senate last December.

Before joining HHS as deputy GC in January 2017, Flick was of counsel at Dhillon Law Group Inc. in San Francisco and owner of The Flick Group, where she practiced corporate law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, licensing, employment matters and intellectual property protection and arbitration, according to HHS.

She holds degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of San Francisco School of Law, according to her LinkedIn profile.