George “Bill” Morrison/courtesy photo

After almost half a decade in-house at Tenet Healthcare Corp., a Dallas lawyer is returning to Haynes and Boone to help lead its health care practice.

George “Bill” Morrison rejoined Haynes and Boone as a partner in Dallas, and as co-head of the  firm's health care and life sciences practice group. He comes fresh off more than four years as assistant general counsel at Tenet, a Dallas-based hospital management company with facilities all over the country.

Tim Powers, managing partner of Haynes and Boone, said a lawyer as talented as Morrison has options, and his decision to return to the firm is a testament to its culture, client service and strength of its health care practice.

“Bill is as adept in the courtroom as he is in the boardroom, and we could not be happier to welcome him back,” Powers wrote in a statement.

Suzie Trigg, a partner in Dallas who co-leads the health care and life sciences practice group with Morrison, wrote that Morrison enhances the group's ability to advise clients on significant transactions, cases and regulatory concerns.

Morrison said he considered a number of firms, once he decided to return to private practice, but Haynes and Boone was the best fit for him in terms of culture and how the firm's lawyers work with lawyers from other firms.

“I knew it could be a seamless transition,” Morrison said about his Jan. 8 move from Tenet, a Haynes and Boone client.

At Tenet, Morrison led a group of regulatory and managed-care attorneys and employees, and handled civil and criminal investigations, class actions and other disputes involving the False Claims Act, securities law, insurance coverage and consumer fraud claims. He also advised the company's board and senior management.

Morrison said he intends to return to the kind of work he did at Haynes and Boone before he went in-house: white-collar defense and internal investigations work, with an emphasis on health care fraud and abuse.

“White collar will continue to be [my] bread and butter. My practice will be a little broader because of my recent experience in managing health care lawyers,” he said.

Morrison said he brings new skills to the firm, after “boomeranging” back from his in-house stint, such as a better understanding of what legal departments look for when purchasing legal services and a better appreciation for the client's need for predictability in legal spend. He also has a good sense of the internal responsibilities of a legal department.

“I think every firm lawyer should work in-house at some time to understand the client's perspective, but for me the opportunity to get back and work with partners, with colleagues, it's just a different work environment that I very much enjoyed,” he said. “I was a partner six or seven years here [at Haynes and Boone] and had frankly missed the camaraderie.”

Further Reading:

The Boomerang Effect: You Can Go Home Again