Winston & Strawn has added three new health care attorneys to its Washington, D.C., office, deepening its investigative, regulatory and litigation capabilities in the health care and life sciences space.

T. Reed Stephens, Amandeep Sidhu and Winston Kirton have joined the firm as partners in the health care and life sciences industry group. Stephens and Sidhu join Winston & Strawn from McDermott Will & Emery, where Stephens was partner-in-charge of the health care advisory practice group and Sidhu was a litigation partner. Kirton was formerly the executive legal counsel and business adviser on the global manufacturing operations leadership team and the global supply chain leadership team at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

In an interview, Ari Markenson and David Dahlquist, co-chairs of Winston & Strawn's health care and life sciences industry group, explained that the trio's expertise in investigative, regulatory and litigation matters rounds out the firm's offerings in the health care space, which currently center on intellectual property and generic drug manufacturing, as well as class actions and commercial litigation.

"We have a 100-plus-member health care and life sciences group across the entire firm, including in our European and Asian offices, which includes lawyers from a lot of different subsidiaries who serve health care and life sciences clients," Markenson said.

Dahlquist added: "We are a robust global health care practice, and this acquisition is evidence of that. We're continuing to grow the health care team [for Winston & Strawn] to be a preeminent health care firm in the nation."

Stephens is a former trial attorney in the civil fraud section of the U.S. Department of Justice and works mostly with life science entities, health systems and non-health care global entities on issues regarding the federal False Claims Act and other corporate compliance matters. He has experience with enterprise risk management matters involving health care fraud and abuse, congressional investigations, foreign anti-corruption laws, mergers and acquisitions, and public policy and regulatory compliance affairs involving import and export controls.

Sidhu represents health systems, specialized physician practice groups, pharmaceutical and biologics manufacturers and several non-health care clients in high-stakes disputes such as government investigations, qui tam whistleblower litigation, national and international risk management concerns and FCPA compliance. The first practicing Sikh partner at an Am Law 100 firm, Sidhu at McDermott secured a victory for his work in helping Sikhs serve in the U.S. military with their religiously mandated turbans and unshorn hair. The 2017 D.C. Rising Star's pro bono work helped his former firm earn a spot on the 2017 Pro Bono Hot List.

Kirton has had a 30-year career in-house in the biopharmaceutical industry, where he has worked for Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc. and Bayer Corp. in various quality and compliance, regulatory affairs, compliance and ethics and legal affairs positions.

Markenson and Dahlquist declined to name any of the firm's clients or say whether Stephens, Sidhu or Kirton's clients would be moving with them to the firm. As Winston & Strawn has transitioned to remote work in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, hiring and onboarding new attorneys hasn't been too different than usual, they said. Much of the lateral onboarding at the firm had already been via videoconferencing or telephone anyway, they explained, while in-person meetings with clients normally happen a month or more after lawyers join the firm.

Still, the trio has started at a busy moment for the firm, as health care clients question what to do in the face of a global pandemic.

"It's interesting that we've essentially had to grab our new partners and say, 'Here's a to-do list for you, and it's long,'" Markenson said, pointing out that as a direct result of the coronavirus outbreak, some health care and life sciences clients are trying to navigate how to import, export, manufacture and distribute various medical supplies. "They have gotten a crash course in integration just by a lot of colleagues already saying, 'I need to pull you into this matter.'"

Dahlquist said client needs are still evolving, but the last two weeks have been "completely insane" as everyone reacted to an ever-changing new reality.

"We have concerns from clients at every level," he said, noting that the firm serves a broad base of health care clients, including companies and providers at basically every level of the industry. "Everyone has their own concerns and questions they're dealing with related to how the coronavirus affects their own specific situation."

Even outside the health care industry, Markenson said the firm's other clients have tapped the health care and life sciences group for advice on how to navigate public health orders and government intervention.

"Our health care people are talking to non-health care clients about these issues, including public health orders, containment zones and closing their businesses," he said.

"Every single industry has been touched by this health care crisis that's impacting every piece of the economy," Dahlquist said. "That's why the three new partners joining this week are a great testament to the work we do for our clients."