Company Overview of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis recently announced the addition of two seasoned healthcare attorneys to the firm's Austin, Texas office. Michelle D. Apodaca joins as of counsel and Fletcher H. Brown as a partner. Brown will focus on the areas of healthcare compliance and operations, policies and procedures, physician contracting, board governance, HIPAA and HITECH patient privacy issues. As partner at Waller, he will assist hospitals, health systems, physician practices and other healthcare providers in Texas with operational and regulatory issues. Previously, Brown served as Director at Austin-based Davis & Wright, P.C., where he focused extensively on health law issues in the state of Texas. Apodaca's practice will focus on healthcare regulatory compliance and operations, and serving as an advocate with the Texas Legislature. Apodaca brings a unique combination of perspectives to Waller with prior experience serving as a legislative assistant for a U.S. Congressman in Washington, D.C. and Texas state senator in Austin, working with the Texas Hospital Association, and working as a compliance officer and in-house counsel with a managed care organization.

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis has elected five new attorneys as partners. Each attorney was previously an associate at the firm: R. Steven Connor - Finance and Restructuring; John "Jeb" E.B. Gerth - Labor and Employment; Justin F. McNaughton - Intellectual Property; John Park - Labor and Employment; Keith E. Thompson - Corporate. Steven Connor joined Waller in 2005 and is in the firm's finance and restructuring group. Jeb Gerth is a labor and employment attorney that has been with Waller since 2005. He works with a variety of employers across the automotive and manufacturing, retail, utilities, wireless telecommunications, and healthcare industries. Justin McNaughton joined Waller in 2006 and focuses his practice on intellectual property, copyrights, patents, software licensing and IT outsourcing, trade secrets, and trademarks. John Park joined Waller in 2008 and is a key attorney in the firm's labor and employment practice group. He serves the automotive and manufacturing, healthcare, real estate, retail, and wireless telecommunications industries. Keith Thompson has been with Waller since 2005. As an attorney in Waller's corporate practice, Thompson focuses on corporate governance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. Thompson represents a wide range of healthcare clients, including behavioral care providers, hospitals and health systems, and outpatient health service providers.

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis has been selected by the Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) to provide legal services in connection with the THSA's mission to promote and coordinate the development of an electronic health information infrastructure to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of the Texas healthcare sector while protecting patient privacy. Waller will assist THSA in creating the legal framework to establish and operate statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) capacity in the State of Texas.