Fredrikson & Byron Shareholder Marguerite J. Ahmann focuses her practice on regulatory, corporate, and transactional matters for a wide range of health care clients, including hospitals, independent physician practices, ambulatory surgical centers, dental support organizations, practice management companies, home care providers, and licensed health care professionals.

Ahmann regularly advises clients on fraud and abuse laws, HIPAA and health privacy, and Medicare and Medicaid enrollment and reimbursement. Her transactional work includes mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic affiliations and partnerships. She also counsels clients on formation and governance matters, prepares employment agreements for health care professionals, assists provider entities with compliance program implementation, advises on scope of practice matters, and structures telemedicine arrangements.

Ahmann earned her J.D. and a Master of Public Health degree simultaneously from the University of Minnesota in 2015, reflecting a practice grounded in both legal expertise and public health policy. She is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Nicole Brand, a partner at Meagher + Geer, focuses her practice on professional liability defense for health care providers and long-term care litigation, representing physicians, dentists, chiropractors, nurses, and other health care professionals in civil litigation and administrative proceedings before licensing boards.

Brand has represented clients through all phases of civil litigation, including dispositive motion practice, mediation, and trial. Her trial record includes defense verdicts and judgments in cases involving allegations of negligent chiropractic treatment, delayed cancer diagnosis, negligent nursing care, and long-term care facility claims, tried in courts across Minnesota and South Dakota.

Before joining Meagher + Geer, Brand clerked for the Honorable Robert A. Amundson of the South Dakota Supreme Court. She earned her law degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1998 and her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Brand is a member of the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, the Medical Professional Liability Association, and Minnesota Women Lawyers.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP Partner Andrew Brantingham represents clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 500 companies in complex civil disputes across all stages of litigation, from pre-suit negotiations through trial and appeal.

Brantingham clerked for Judge Diana E. Murphy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit before joining Dorsey & Whitney, where he was named partner in 2016.

He chairs Dorsey’s Healthcare Litigation Practice Group, representing hospital systems and medical professionals in high-stakes malpractice cases, government investigations and multimillion-dollar business disputes.

His representative matters include obtaining verdicts of no negligence for Mayo Clinic in multiple malpractice trials and securing post-trial dismissal of a $27.7 million adverse jury verdict in Kedrowski v. Lycoming Engines, affirmed on appeal. Brantingham is also an active member of Dorsey’s Indian Law Practice Group, representing tribes nationwide in matters involving tribal sovereignty, federal health care program funding and taxation. He has taught legal writing at the University of Minnesota Law School and serves on the board of directors of Coffee House Press.

Fredrikson & Byron Shareholder Katherine J. Douglas chairs the firm’s Health Law Group and advises health care clients on corporate matters and transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships among health care entities.
Douglas counsels a broad range of health care clients, including dental support organizations, practice management companies, independent physician and dental groups, veterinary service providers, behavioral health providers, hospitals, health systems and ambulatory surgery centers. She also advises private equity sponsors and their health care portfolio companies on acquisition, expansion and regulatory matters across the medical, dental, behavioral health, chemical dependency and veterinary sectors.
Her transactional work includes complex and strategic transactions such as acquisitions, divisional mergers and joint ventures. She serves as outside general counsel to physician and dental group practice clients, advising on professional service agreements with health systems, and regularly counsels clients on Stark Law, anti-kickback statutes, licensing and HIPAA compliance matters. She also advises ambulatory surgical centers on formation and operation matters.

Christianna Finnern, a shareholder at Winthrop & Weinstine, has built a prominent practice focused on health care regulatory law, representing providers, health systems, and regulated businesses through complex enforcement, compliance, and government-relations matters.

Finnern’s work spans some of the most demanding intersections of state and federal regulation, including licensure, fraud and abuse, behavioral health, involuntary receiverships, and matters involving agencies such as the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Drug Enforcement Administration. She regularly represents clients before legislatures, regulators, and licensing boards, shaping outcomes with lasting operational and policy implications across Minnesota’s health care sector.

In addition to her client work, Finnern played a central role in building and expanding Winthrop & Weinstine’s health care regulatory practice. Colleagues recognize her for her command of complex regulatory frameworks, her credibility with regulators, and her commitment to developing the next generation of attorneys.

Kutak Rock LLP Partner Jennifer Forbes has spent more than 25 years advising physicians, health systems, nonprofits, and health care-related businesses on complex regulatory and transactional matters.

Forbes serves as outside general counsel to hospitals and integrated health systems, counseling clients on medical staff bylaws, provider services agreements, Medicare and Medicaid billing compliance, Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute issues, and HIPAA and HITECH requirements. She also advises physician practices and specialty providers on contracting, joint ventures, and compliance strategy, helping clients navigate audits, regulatory scrutiny, and evolving enforcement priorities.

Her transactional practice includes the formation of integrated delivery systems, ambulatory surgery center arrangements, mergers, reorganizations, and physician-hospital joint ventures. Forbes brings a compliance-informed approach to transactions, working to align business objectives with health care regulatory requirements.

In addition, Forbes advises nonprofit organizations on formation, governance, tax-exempt status, mergers, and compliance matters unique to nonprofit entities, rounding out a practice that spans both operational and strategic health care law.

Sarah M. Hoffman, shareholder at Bassford Remele, is a health care litigator who represents health care systems and individual providers in litigation and board matters, with experience advising clients on claim assessments and internal investigations.

Hoffman earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Concordia College in 2005 and her law degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 2008, where she served as assistant editor of the Law Journal. She clerked for the Honorable Shawn Moynihan of the First Judicial District from 2008 to 2013 before joining Bassford Remele.

Her practice encompasses complex medical malpractice defense, including multi-million dollar birth injury cases, correctional medicine matters and civil rights actions. She has been part of litigation teams securing defense verdicts in wrongful death, birth injury and surgical negligence cases. Hoffman serves as co-chair of the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association’s Medical Liability and Health Care Law Committee and chairs Bassford Remele’s Pro Bono Committee. She previously served on the firm’s board of directors.

Jamie McCarty, partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP, counsels clients in the health care industry on complex business transactions and regulatory compliance matters.

Prior to joining Dorsey, McCarty worked in the health group of another national law firm.

Her transactional practice represents health systems, physician groups, providers and payors in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships. Representative matters include counseling a multi-hospital system in its affiliation with a large orthopedic practice, representing a local hospital system in its acquisition of several community hospitals, advising health care private equity firms on transactions involving dermatology, dental, hospice and home health providers, and representing a global nonprofit home health agency in a member substitution transaction.

She also advises clients on Stark Law, anti-kickback statutes, HIPAA and corporate practice of medicine compliance. McCarty serves as co-chair of Dorsey’s Minneapolis office and maintains an active pro bono practice focused on reproductive rights.

David Melloh, a partner and practice group co-chair at Taft, has spent more than 30 years representing health care clients in complex transactions and regulatory matters across the country.

Melloh co-chairs Taft’s Health Care and Life Sciences group and serves as primary outside counsel to multiple health systems, guiding strategic initiatives that include hospital and facility acquisitions, physician alignment, and service line joint ventures. He has completed more than 175 health care transactions in more than 30 states for clients ranging from health systems and medical and dental practices to ambulatory surgery centers, HMOs, payers, and health care-focused private equity funds.

His transaction work includes leading the sale of a one-million-member California HMO, acquisitions of large multi-specialty groups by Minnesota health systems, and multi-state deals for integrated systems and investors. He also serves as general counsel to one of the nation’s largest independent dentistry practices and led the startup, funding, and sale of a mobile urgent care provider.

Stinson LLP Partner Laura Nelson chairs the firm’s Healthcare and Insurance Division, advising hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, and assisted living communities on a broad range of regulatory and transactional matters.
Nelson counsels clients on complex transactions, mergers and acquisitions, professional and facility licensing, governance, medical staff matters, nonprofit organization and tax exemption issues, patient care legal issues, and clinical trial regulations. She has particular depth in issues facing rural health care providers, including critical access hospital regulations and fraud and abuse law exceptions specific to rural areas, as well as public hospital matters under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and Open Meeting Law.
Her representative work includes converting a Minnesota hospital district to a nonprofit organization, representing critical access hospitals in affiliations with larger health systems, and handling more than 30 complaints before professional licensing boards in Minnesota.
Before joining Stinson, Nelson clerked for the Honorable Lorie Skjerven Gildea, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Lori Swanson, a principal at Swanson Hatch P.A., brings two decades of experience at the highest levels of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office to her private practice, where she advises businesses, organizations, and individuals on regulatory, compliance, litigation, and government investigation matters.
Swanson served as Minnesota attorney general from 2006 to 2019, becoming the first woman elected to that office. During her tenure, she represented the Minnesota departments of Commerce, Human Services, and Health, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, and more than 100 other state agencies, boards, and commissions. She enforced consumer protection, nonprofit, health, antitrust, and insurance laws across a broad range of industries. Earlier, she served as solicitor general from 2002 to 2006 and as deputy attorney general from 1999 to 2002, overseeing consumer protection, nonprofit regulation, antitrust, and health care work.
Before her government career, Swanson practiced civil litigation and regulatory compliance at a boutique private law firm.

Nilan Johnson Lewis Attorney Stephen Warch brings more than 30 years of experience in health care and insurance regulation to his practice, counseling insurers, providers, third-party administrators, and other health care organizations through complex regulatory matters.

Warch’s career spans private practice, government service, and in-house roles. He served as an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota and as deputy general counsel at UnitedHealthcare, a Fortune 10 managed care organization. He currently serves as outside general counsel to a Minnesota Medicaid managed care organization and a national membership organization focused on health care and corporate compliance.

His practice encompasses health care and insurance regulation, health care transactions, hospital and health plan credentialing and privileging, third-party administrative services, and nonprofit regulation and governance. Warch also has taught health law as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, the University of Arizona Law School, and William Mitchell College of Law.