McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Ken Marlow is known as a go-to transactional advisor in the healthcare industry. During his three-decade career, he has worked with hospitals, health systems and other healthcare providers, and healthcare investors to structure and execute their most complex transactions.

Ken has led some of the most significant and transformative transactions in the United States, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures among hospitals, physician groups, and other providers. He has assisted clients with hundreds of transactions in both healthcare services and life sciences, including ambulatory, digital health and AI, behavioral health, physician practice management, home health and hospice, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, laboratory services, payor combinations, long-term care, and rehabilitation.

In addition to his hospital and health systems practice, Ken regularly represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a wide variety of transactional matters. He also works with clients across the healthcare community with respect to board guidance and other corporate governance needs. With a nationwide practice and deep roots in Nashville, the epicenter of the US healthcare industry, Ken is uniquely positioned to connect clients with the right partners to achieve their strategic business objectives.

Ken frequently speaks at national conferences, and he is regularly quoted in publications such as Modern Healthcare, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining McDermott Will & Schulte, Ken was the chair of the global healthcare industry team and the leader of the healthcare and FDA practice of a large international law firm.

Kate McDonald represents clients across the healthcare industry on complex regulatory matters and high-stakes mergers and acquisitions, affiliations and other investments. She delivers strategic advice on federal and state laws applicable to health insurers and HMOs, including the downstream implications for their provider organizations and vendors, as well as the reimbursement landscape of federal healthcare programs.

Kate’s clients rely on her extensive experience navigating the Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D and Medicaid managed care programs. She partners with health plans, provider organizations, technology start-ups, private equity funds and retailers to benchmark risks, solve regulatory challenges and structure transactions, particularly those that involve federal and state healthcare programs. As payors and providers continue to realign in today’s market, Kate offers nuanced insights into the unique obstacles and opportunities facing companies at the intersection of these two worlds. She helps innovative companies navigate state risk-bearing regulations, drafts and negotiates agreements with complex reimbursement structures and regulatory implications, and advises healthcare companies and private equity funds on investments in highly regulated segments of the healthcare market.

Kate’s healthcare regulatory experience also includes deep insights into DC certificate of need (CON) laws. She helps providers obtain CON approval for the introduction and expansion of healthcare services, changes in ownership, capital expenditures, and closure of healthcare services or facilities in Washington, DC.

Kate is a contributing author to Regulation of Medicare Part D Plans (Thomson Reuters, 2019 edition) and Thomson Reuters Health Law Handbook (2017 edition). She speaks regularly at healthcare industry events, including the Wall Street Journal Health Forum, American Health Lawyers Association Institute for Health Plan Counsel, Blue Cross Blue Shield National Summit, Health Care Compliance Association Managed Care Compliance Conference, and Medicaid Managed Care Congress. Kate was the first recipient of the McDermott Will & Emery Client Service Award (2019).

Leads healthcare and life sciences M&A transactions across a broad array of healthcare sectors

Represents healthcare private equity funds with fully integrated transactional, finance, and regulatory counsel

Structures large physician practice roll-ups and MSO platforms across specialties, including emerging non-healthcare professional services models

Kristian (Krist) Werling is the global head of McDermott’s Health & Life Sciences practice, which provides regulatory and transactional counsel to health and life sciences industry leaders, changemakers, and investors.

Krist and the McDermott Health & Life Sciences team lead the most significant transactions, critical regulatory issues, and litigation matters that shape the health and life sciences industry. In his own practice, Krist represents life sciences companies, health service providers, private equity firms, and venture capital investors in a wide variety of transactional and regulatory matters. He has led cutting-edge industry transactions that have introduced cancer and gene therapy products to the global market, expanded access to fertility services, increased the availability of cost-effective outpatient surgical services, and transformed the delivery of physician services in a broad range of specialties.

Krist's decades of experience on the buy-side and sell-side of health and life sciences dealmaking spans the healthcare and life sciences landscape. He leads cross-disciplinary teams and delivers business-focused legal guidance to help clients pursue their most innovative strategies, working across borders and health and life sciences subsectors to connect and advise industry stakeholders. Krist is also skilled at developing creative transaction structures, conducting sector-specific due diligence, and providing forward-looking counsel to mitigate issues that can derail transactions or stunt long-term growth. His deep understanding of sector-specific regulatory nuances allows him to efficiently close transactions and maximize client outcomes.

Representative PE clients include Ampersand Capital Partners (buy-side and sell-side); Amulet Capital Partners (buy-side and sell-side); Windrose Health Investors (buy-side and sell-side M&A, and joint venture matters); Iron Path Capital (investments, carve-out acquisitions and new platform formations), Quad-C (new platform formation and investment and sell-side), PPC (buy-side).

Representative healthcare and life sciences companies include Baxter International and Vanda Pharmaceuticals (cross-border sales and acquisitions; licensing); REGENXBIO (strategic partnership with AbbVie); Cleveland Clinic, Hospital for Special Surgery and Northwestern Medicine (strategic innovation investments and joint ventures); numerous founder-owned businesses in strategic transactions with investors.