San Francisco—Dentons announced today that Daniel B. Higgins, one of the nation's most accomplished health care strategists and deal lawyers, joined the Firm's Health Care practice as a partner in the San Francisco office.

Widely-regarded as a leader of the health care transactional bar, Higgins joins Dentons' national health care practice, already renowned for its health care regulatory, compliance, policy and finance capabilities and representing clients in the health care and life sciences sector in the United States and abroad.  Coming on the heels of Dentons' recently-announced merger with McKenna Long & Aldridge in the US, the arrival of Higgins further enhances the Firm's rapidly-growing West Coast presence.

"Dan will be a leader in our market-leading health care team, just as he already is in the industry," said US Managing Partner, Mike McNamara.  "Dan's innovative thinking and extensive experience guiding state-of-the-art health care transactions is well recognized, and the strategic value of his move to Dentons will tremendously benefit our clients across the US."

Higgins focuses his practice on strategic corporate, M&A and financial transactions in the health care sector.  Several of his transactions have been groundbreaking in the industry, including a private equity acquisition of a Catholic health system; representing a large public academic medical center in a unique affiliation with a private children's hospital; and development of the organizational structure for a prominent faith-based health care system to evolve into a mixed religious and secular system.

"Some of the largest health care enterprises in the country are located within 100 miles of our San Francisco office and represent the types of  organizations that make up Dan's client list," said Sonia Martin, managing partner of Dentons' San Francisco office.

Higgins represents multi-hospital health systems, academic medical centers, health plans, ambulatory and specialty providers and large physicians groups.  He has completed numerous significant health care merger, acquisition, divestiture and reorganization transactions as well as scores of physician integration initiatives across the country.

"Dan is a gifted M&A lawyer," noted Charles Luband, co-chair of Dentons' Health Care practice. "More than that, he is a visionary with a true grasp of the challenges and opportunities facing America's health care providers and has a proven track record of transforming a promising concept into reality."

Active in volunteer organizations, Higgins is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors for Resurge, an international medical charity for children, a former Board member of the American Heart Association in San Francisco and also served on the Board of the American Health Lawyers Association.  A prolific writer, he has published numerous articles on health care, corporate and finance issues and was a member of the editorial board for BNA Health Law Reporter.

Higgins also speaks frequently at professional programs and is a former adjunct professor at the University of California Berkeley School of Law in health care law and policy.  Last year, the legal ranking directory Chambers USA named him one of the Top Healthcare Attorneys in the country.

Higgins earned his JD, magna cum laude, from Santa Clara University School of Law, where he was editor of the Santa Clara Law Review, and his BA, with distinction, from Stanford University.

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