Dorsey & Whitney has boosted its healthcare practice with a lateral group of four experienced attorneys in its Des Moines office. Rebecca (Becki) A. Brommel and Catherine (Katie) Cownie have joined as partners along with Adam J. Freed as of counsel and Michael (Mike) E. Jenkins as a senior attorney. The team is a well-known and well-respected group of healthcare attorneys in the Des Moines market and represents clients in the healthcare industry in transactions, regulatory compliance, administrative proceedings and health litigation.
Katie Cownie is a successful and highly regarded healthcare attorney and has worked on healthcare regulatory, administrative law, business transactions and corporate issues for those in the healthcare industry for more than 20 years. Her practice focuses on long term care facilities, hospitals, mental health providers, physicians, and dentists. Ms. Cownie assists with many ongoing business and administrative law issues, including buying and selling businesses, obtaining necessary certifications and licenses (including Certificate of Need approval) addressing board licensure and other disciplinary issues, working with regulatory bodies, resolving HIPAA and other privacy issues, addressing fraud and abuse issues, and resolving disputes with Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) and other payers. In addition to her healthcare expertise, she works with clients in the renewable fuels area and provides representation related to entity organization, contracting and raising capital. Ms. Cownie also serves on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Environmental Council, the Growing Green Futures Advisory Committee, and the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Des Moines, and is the current co-chair of the St. Augustin Home and School Association.
Becki Brommel’s practice focuses on healthcare litigation and administrative law, pursuing cases for clients directly impacted by the enforcement of state statutes and state administrative agency decisions and rules. This includes actions impacting healthcare providers, licensed professionals, agricultural producers and government bidders and contractors. As an attorney for nearly two decades, Ms. Brommel strives to build a strong relationship with each client, getting to know them and their legal issues, and understanding their practical issues in addition to the law. She firmly believes in building relationships with opposing counsel or others in relevant industries in order to use those relationships when necessary to move a client’s case forward. Ms. Brommel has been involved in Komen Greater Iowa since 2012 as a Board Member and has served as its Board President. In addition, she serves as President of the Pink Tractor Foundation, which provides financial support to Iowans dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Adam Freed’s health law practice provides strategic advice to individual and institutional healthcare providers, such as physicians, dentists, hospitals, and nursing facilities, as well as trade associations that represent health care providers. He strives to provide strategic advice to help healthcare providers navigate the maze of complex federal and state regulations with which they must comply. In his agriculture practice, Mr. Freed has advised some of the nation’s largest hog producers and numerous value-added-agriculture businesses. He also advises clients from a wide variety of industries to negotiate economic development agreements with the State of Iowa and with various local government entities. Before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Freed served as an aide to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and the Senate Finance Committee and handled a wide variety of issues ranging from agriculture to energy policy. In particular, he was integrally involved in consideration of the 2002 Farm Bill. As a Legislative Aide and Assistant Investigator on the Senate Finance Committee staff, Mr. Freed coordinated the Committee’s review of Presidential nominations and participated in the adoption of landmark legislation, including the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.
Mike Jenkins’ practice focuses on two highly-regulated industries in health law and gaming. He advises clients on healthcare mergers, acquisitions, entity formation, regulatory compliance, internal investigations, and business disputes. Mr. Jenkins strives to get to know his clients and their businesses to help them assess the legal risk and business opportunity in a practical way and to distill the legal requirements related to a situation into business choices that allow his clients to act. Before becoming a lawyer, he worked for over 10 years at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, leading projects that improved the business operations of the museum through the use of information technology. Mr. Jenkins was also a small business owner of a consulting business that helped museums address change.
“Becki, Katie, Adam and Mike bring a wealth of healthcare industry expertise and experience and will be a great addition to Dorsey’s healthcare practice,” noted Bill Stoeri, Managing Partner of Dorsey & Whitney. “Healthcare is a strategic focus and priority industry at Dorsey and we have a dedicated group of attorneys whose practices focus on health law compliance, regulatory, transactional, and administrative work. We take great pride in being a premiere healthcare law firm.”