The plateauing of health care provider consolidations is having a huge impact on legal services for the industry.
Whether it is a move toward national firms or sticking to local firms, the changing health care landscape–namely, a shift to fewer, but larger players–is also changing the way firms structure their offerings.
Scott Kobler, a longtime health care attorney at McCarter & English in Newark, doesn’t believe in the one-stop shop cliche.
“I don’t think there is any firm that can credibly say it can be all things to all people,” Kobler said. “At the end of the day, there really is little substitution for experience, urgency and being in the space all the time.”
In fact, Kobler said that McCarter & English, also a large but regional firm, has about 5 percent of its business in health care. Rather than competing with national firms, Kobler sees room for coexistence.
“There is no winning strategy, because all of us in this space are doing fine,” he said.