Brian Hall
Practice Focus Area: Healthcare Transactions & Regulatory
Office: Washington, DC
Years at Firm: 3+ years
What is your favorite part about practicing healthcare law at McDermott?
It’s easily the colleagues I work with on daily basis. I’m fortunate that my practice requires me to work with attorneys across the entire Healthcare practice group and other practices at the Firm. Having colleagues who are the best at what they do is a tremendous resource for myself and our clients. I also really enjoy working on the cutting-edge legal issues our clients bring to us. Healthcare law is never static and forces us to always be learning to help clients navigate this increasingly complex legal landscape.
What is the biggest opportunity and greatest challenge facing clients in your area of focus today?
My practice is focused primarily on healthcare transactions/M&A and related regulatory issues, representing investors like private equity funds and the healthcare providers they partner with. The healthcare delivery market continues to be highly fragmented with many specialty areas attractive to potential investors. This benefits healthcare providers who are facing increasing reimbursement and cost pressures while needing to invest heavily in technology to take advantage of telehealth modalities and value-based care arrangements. One of the greatest challenges facing investor clients today is the growing competition they face from other investors as the healthcare delivery space continues to be a priority investment area and remains very seller-friendly.
What kind of client work gets you most excited when it comes across your desk?
My favorite work involves representing investor-backed healthcare platforms on new acquisitions and working on complex regulatory issues. It’s always exciting when an investor client is entering into a new specialty area and we get to assist them in structuring and growing a national platform. I also really enjoy working with clients on difficult regulatory and operational issues, particularly those that today’s regulatory environment is not well suited for addressing. Navigating these complicated issues requires us to be creative in how we help a client achieve its goal, which always keeps things exciting.
What is the proudest moment of your career to date?
Being promoted to partner in the Healthcare practice group is an obvious answer but it’s the work I get to do that I’m most proud of. Every healthcare deal I work on is both the same and very different – they all tend to follow a similar flow and cadence but there are always unexpected and unique issues that come up that allow me and my team to deliver unexpected solutions that help the client achieve their business goals. Working through these issues and getting a deal to close are some of the proudest moments of my career.
If you were not a lawyer, what career would you pursue?
I would still be involved in healthcare in some capacity. Like many healthcare attorneys, at one point I thought of becoming a physician but realized that wasn’t the right career path for me. I enjoy both the business and policy side of the healthcare industry, so I could see myself either working on operational issues at a health system (putting my master’s degree in health administration to good use) or going back to my pre-law career of working on payment reform and quality improvement issues.
