On September 24, 2005, we celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the health law practice at Ober|Kaler. A number of alumni joined us in celebrating this event and in honoring Len Homer. In preparing my remarks for the event, I identified a number of interesting facts which serve as a testament to the leadership exercised by Len and others. At the current time, there are sixteen lawyers who have been with our health law practice for at least 10 years, nine of whom have been here for at least 15 years, six of whom have been here for at least 20 years, and Len, who joined the firm on August 1, 1975, 30 years ago. Longevity does not end with our lawyers. There are eight secretaries who have been with us for at least five years and, of those, five have been with us for at least 13 years, with the longest tour of duty currently standing at 26 years. Even one of our paralegals has been with us 17 years. In fact, the 47 people in our Health Law Department represent a combined 470 years at Ober|Kaler. I raise these statistics not necessarily to demonstrate that we are old, but rather that we have developed a large base of individuals who have committed their careers to our practice and our clients.

We are proud not only of the commitment of these individuals, but also of their accomplishments. A partial list includes two past presidents of the American Health Lawyers Association (an accomplishment which only one other law firm in the country has achieved); three attorneys who were selected for the inaugural class of the AHLA Fellows; and six who have held significant leadership positions in AHLA, including serving on the Board of Directors, chairing practice groups, and serving as chair of major AHLA programs. This does not include the numerous attorneys within the department who have spoken at national programs sponsored by AHLA and others and who have written articles published in the leading health care and health law journals. Since 2003, nine of our attorneys have been listed by Nightingale's Healthcare News as outstanding health care lawyers in the areas of fraud and compliance, physician practice, hospital practice, and litigation, while three of our attorneys were identified among the outstanding young health care attorneys in the country.

Although we are sorry when any of our attorneys leave, many of our alumni have moved on to national prominence and responsibility both in the government and in the private sector.

In an attempt to recognize all of these people, along with the individual who started it some 30 years ago, I was pleased to announce the creation of the Leonard C. Homer/ Ober|Kaler Law and Health Care Fund at the University of Maryland Law School. Our initial pledge to this fund is $30,000 to be paid over five years. In the first year, we will provide the University with $5,000 to support a national conference to be held next year at the law school for professors of health care law at law schools around the country. Additionally, $5,000 will be provided directly to the law school's health law program. In each of the next four years, we will provide a $5,000 contribution to the health law program to assist in the development of the next generation of health care lawyers. (Incidentally, if any of our readers are interested in making a tax deductible contribution to the fund in honor of Len, please contact me and I can provide you with additional details.)

We recognize that we cannot rest on the past. For that reason, we continue our efforts to build our practice in ways that further support our clients. Over the past year we have been joined by six new attorneys: Emily Wein, Paul Kim, Chiarra Stratton, Lindsay Greenwood, Josh Freemire, and Christi Braun. These attorneys bring with them an array of knowledge and experience in health law that I am certain will greatly enhance our ability to be of assistance to our clients.

Our pledge to the University of Maryland Law School Health Law Program is made not only to recognize the many accomplishments of Len Homer, but also to reinforce our goal to continuously expand the ways in which we can be of service to our clients. Please let us know how we are doing.

Sandy Teplitzky, Department Chair