Overview
CHICAGO (February 18, 2014) – International law firm McDermott Will & Emery today announced that Karen Owen Gibbs has joined the Firm as a partner in the Health Industry Advisory Practice Group resident in the Chicago office.
Prior to joining McDermott, Ms. Gibbs served as Vice President and Senior Counsel at CVS Caremark, a Fortune 20 integrated pharmacy company and one of the nation’s leading drug retailers. At CVS Caremark she supervised a team of attorneys and was responsible for legal and regulatory compliance matters, including providing legal counsel for enterprise-wide implementation of Health Care Reform. Ms. Gibbs was also previously a partner at a major law firm.
Ms. Gibbs has extensive experience in regulatory, compliance and policy issues in the health care and life sciences industries, including pharmacies (retail, mail and specialty), pharmaceutical and biological manufacturers, pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies, device manufacturers, durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, hospitals, retail clinics and senior living facilities. She also has substantial experience advising investors and lenders focused on those industries, including private equity investors and REITs.
Ms. Gibbs has provided strategic advice to clients regarding a wide variety of business and operational arrangements, including innovations to address Health Care Reform. She has worked with clients responding to federal and state enforcement actions; and implementing compliance measures to mitigate risk prospectively and to address government settlements.
“We are delighted to welcome Karen to the firm,” said Stephen Bernstein, head of McDermott’s Health Industry Practice Group. “Karen’s deep background further enhances our ability to advise health clients on pharmacy compliance and transactional matters, and fraud and abuse issues. She also brings extensive experience in providing strategic advice to clients related to Affordable Care Act implementation, including operational issues associated with Health Insurance Exchanges.”
Ms. Gibbs received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review. She received her M.A. and B.S.F.S. in history from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, respectively.
McDermott Will & Emery has one of the United States’ largest and most prestigious Health Industry Groups. Our more than 90 health lawyers, resident in the Firm’s Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Munich, New York, Rome, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., offices, counsel leading organizations in every major sector of the health care industry on regulatory and business transaction issues. McDermott is the only law firm to receive Tier 1 rankings in health care nationally by all of the industry’s top legal directories: Chambers USA, The Legal 500 USA, U.S. News–Best Lawyers and Law360. For the fourth consecutive year, Chambers USA ranked the Firm’s health practice as the only firm in Tier 1 in the United States (2010–2013).
About McDermott Will & Emery
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,100 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
