Shari Gerson, Attorney

Shari Gerson is an AV-rated attorney who was recently selected as one of Florida's Legal Elite attorneys for 2009. She has worked with the Firm as an associate since 1994, and as a partner with the Firm since 2001. Ms. Gerson was born in New York City, has lived in the South Florida since 1981, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors at the University of Miami in 1991. She was on the President's List, a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society, and Associate Chairperson of the Program Council. Ms. Gerson went on to receive her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1994, and joined the Firm as an associate thereafter. Ms. Gerson has been intimately involved in the development of the Firm and an integral part of its overall success.

Ms. Gerson has worked closely with Steven Ziegler in defending the Firm's managed care and business clients. As a partner in the Firm, she continues her practice in the areas of Managed Health Care Law, including medical malpractice cases brought against managed care organizations based on various theories of liability such as vicarious liability, negligent credentialing, non-delegable duty and direct negligence for utilization management functions of case management and concurrent review as well as member disputes over medical benefits, premiums, continuation coverage pursuant to COBRA, conversion policies, and rescission actions. She has handled these member disputes in both state and federal courts. She has represented managed care companies in multi-million dollar contract and claims disputes and has handled hundreds of participating and non-participating provider claims cases in state and federal courts and in arbitration. These non-participating provider claims include cases involving CPT code billing issues, Medicare billing guidelines, usual and customary charges and various fraudulent billing issues. In these member and provider disputes, she has represented managed care entities as payors of fully-insured plans, as third-party claims administrators who administer the plans on behalf of the self-insured employers, and has also represented these self-insured employers.

Ms. Gerson also provides risk management advice to managed care organizations and similar entities such as physician practice organizations, multi-specialty networks and physician-hospital organizations throughout the nation. This service encompasses review and assessment of the company's departmental contracts, including provider agreements, individual and group member contracts, administrative service organization agreements and various marketing documents in an effort to reduce liability exposure.

Ms. Gerson drafts and revises various types of contracts for managed care clients, both for regular business purposes to be used as a template and for specific, unique purposes that require customized agreements. She also provides risk management advice on existing agreements for those clients. Ms. Gerson also supports clients in procuring trademarks and various licenses.

Ms. Gerson's practice also includes ERISA litigation including health, life, accidental death and disability benefits, both short-term and long-term. She further represents insurance companies on non-ERISA employee benefits cases and individual policies of health, life and disability insurance.

Ms. Gerson is also certified as a mediator for the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA), the nation's largest, nonpartisan organization devoted to legal issues in the healthcare field. The AHLA formed its Alternative Dispute Resolution Service in 1992 to provide parties with competent, trained dispute resolvers with expertise in healthcare.

In addition to her admissions to the Florida Bar, she is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida and Northern District of Florida. Ms. Gerson is a member of the Florida Bar Health Law, Labor & Employment Law, and Trial Lawyers Sections, a member of the American Health Lawyers Association (Payors, Plans and Managed Care Section) and a member of the American Bar Association (Health Law Section and Managed Care and Insurance Interest Group). Additionally, she has received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating available through Martindale-Hubbell and is based on confidential questionnaires submitted to other attorneys. Ms. Gerson is married with a daughter, is fluent in Spanish and is an avid runner.