Member News - TAGLaw

Randall D. Crocker, President and CEO of von Briesen & Roper, s.c. (Wisconsin, USA) announced that the Firm’s Health Care Practice Group has added two attorneys: Shareholder Mary Lee Ratzel and Associate Meghan C. O’Connor.

von Briesen & Roper, s.c. has been practicing health law since the 1950s and today has one of the largest health law groups in Wisconsin. The firm’s full-service team of attorneys works with hospitals and healthcare systems on a wide-range of specialties ranging from Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Privacy and Health Care Reform, Hospital Construction and Real Estate, Employee Benefits, Medical Staff, Practice Acquisition, Transactional, Finance, Risk Management and Compliance. The firm recently launched a dedicated website (www.vonbriesenhealth.com) that features blog posts and legal updates in the ever-changing health law landscape. According to Smock Sterling Strategic Management Consultants, health law is projected to be the fastest growing area in 2011. With thirty attorneys focusing on health law, the firm is well-positioned to meet the needs of health industry clients.

Mary Lee Ratzel is a Shareholder in the Health Care and Litigation & Risk Management Practice Groups. Ratzel has nearly 30 years of experience in the areas of risk management and medical and dental malpractice defense. She has tried over 70 jury trials, the majority of which involved the defense of physicians and healthcare providers in medical malpractice actions.  

Ratzel is an Advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocacy (ABOTA) and one of two women in the state of Wisconsin who has received fellowship status into the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), where she also currently serves as its State of Wisconsin committee chair. She has been recognized every year since 2005 in both Best Lawyers in America® and as a “SuperLawyer” by Law and Politics and Milwaukee Magazine. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Professional Medical Malpractice Liability Committee, The Civil Trial Counsel of Wisconsin, Association for Women Lawyers and Serjeants’ Inn. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching Advanced Trial Advocacy at Marquette University Law School.

Ratzel received her J.D. (1981) and B.A. (magna cum laude, 1978) from Marquette University. She resides in Hartland, Wisconsin with her husband.

Meghan C. O’Connor joins the Health Care Practice Group and focuses her practice on managed care and provider contracting, risk management and regulatory compliance for hospitals and healthcare systems. Prior to joining the firm, O’Connor worked for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services where she consulted with states regarding federal health law, regulation and policy, evaluating managed care contracts and conducting compliance review.

During law school, O’Connor was the Editor in Chief of the Marquette Elder’s Advisor Law Review and President of the Association for Women Lawyers. She also received the Milwaukee Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award for her work as the Student Coordinator of the Legal and Medical Partnership.

O’Connor is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, American and Wisconsin Bar Association and Association for Women Lawyers. She earned a J.D., cum laude, from Marquette University in 2010 and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Lawrence University in 2005. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband Brian Lambert.

About von Briesen & Roper: von Briesen & Roper, s.c. is a 107-year-old Milwaukee-based law firm with over 100 attorneys in offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Racine and Mequon. The firm provides legal services to businesses, institutions and individuals, with an emphasis on matters involving banking, bankruptcy, business restructuring, construction law, corporate law, employee benefits, health law, labor, litigation, risk management, real estate, and wealth management. For more information, please visit the firm’s web site at http://www.vonbriesen.com.