Hooper Lundy & Bookman PC

At the beginning of the month, Hooper Lundy & Bookman PC celebrated its 30th anniversary. Despite the firm's history, many partners still view it as an evolving product.

In January, the firm, which solely represents health care providers, opened its fifth office in Boston, what founding partner Patric Hooper describes as "the hottest place in the U.S. for the prosecution and initiation of civil actions involving health care fraud enforcement."

According managing partner Robert W. Lundy Jr., Hooper Lundy & Bookman began its national expansion 10 years ago. It now has clients in all 50 states and Boston is its second East Coast office -- its D.C. office opened its doors in 2010.

"Because of increasing federal focus on health care policy, we felt it was important to have offices in other regions," Lundy said. "We had national clients and we wanted to have a physical presence nationally as well."

Lundy estimates the firms has had a 15 percent growth in total number of professionals over the last two years. With its entry into Boston, he expects the firm will continue to grow steadily, but it has purposefully kept its boutique size -- 68 attorneys -- to maintain an edge in the competitive health care market.

"Health care is a very complex industry and it requires deep levels of sub-specialization and we have lawyers that specialize in areas people have never heard of," Lundy said. "As a boutique, we have the size and exclusive focus to an extent other firms can't."

Hooper said the firm didn't have a difficult time establishing itself in the burgeoning Boston market because of its extensive track record of success in transactions, litigation and regulatory issues. In the mid-1990s, the firm represented Hanlester Network in a suit that ended in a crucial anti-kickback ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hanlester Network v. Shalala, 51 F.3d 1390 (9th Cir. 1995). It also helped Orthopaedic Hospital recover millions of dollars in unpaid Medi-Cal payments in a seminal case involving state hospitals' outpatient payment rate structure and Medicaid rights. Orthopaedic Hospital et al. v. Belshe, 95-55607 (9th Cir. 1997).

More recently, the firm said its transactions unit has been involved in more than half of the hospital acquisitions in California since 2009. This summer it represented NantWorks LLC in its acquisition of a majority stake in Integrity Healthcare LLC, the management company for Verity Health Systems which operates six hospitals. The specific terms of the deal were not made public.

So while new to the area, Hooper, Lundy & Bookman came to Boston with a significant résumé, one that was well known by former U.S. attorney David S. Schumacher. A week after the firm opened its doors in Boston, Schumacher, who had just spent eight years as the deputy chief of the health fraud unit for the Department of Justice, joined the practice.

"Hooper, Lundy & Bookman doesn't try to pretend it's anything it's not," Schumacher said. "It's a health law firm first and foremost and very good at what it does."

Since its inception in 1987, the firm has had a strict provider-only client base, which, in addition to eliminating conflicts, Lundy said, adds to ability of the firm to remain specialized. Schumacher, who's been charged with establishing the firm's presence in Boston as a partner in the regional office, said that level of specialization is going to be the firm's key to continued growth as it expands in the Northeast.

"It's a real value proposition and providers here really [in Boston] welcomed the entry of a specialty health law firm. " Schumacher said. "The partners at Hooper, Lundy & Bookman understand it is challenging to go into a new market like Boston where providers have long-standing relationships, but they're extremely well positioned for success in an era of belt tightening."

-- Paula Lehman-Ewing