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.