Joseph D. Epps - Partner
Yee-Yoong Yong- Partner
Dawn M. Coulson - Partner
Jeffrey A. Cohen - Associate
Michael B. Wilson- Associate
Casandra Cushman Secord - Associate
Jindy Sanchez Bal- Associate
ANDREA KNOX- Associate

Mr. Epps regularly works on matters involving hospital and clinical laboratory operational issues, medical staff relations, physician/hospital affiliations, group medical practices, and joint ventures.  His practice focuses on transactional activities involving hospitals and physician providers, and managed care risk contracting; and on regulatory compliance with respect to Stark and anti-kickback laws.  He has substantial experience in providing legal advice to senior management of acute care hospitals, clinical laboratories, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals, skilled health facilities and home health agencies.

Mr. Epps began his legal career practicing with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in environmental litigation. He later joined the Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Energy, Research and Administration in Washington, D.C. where he worked on a variety of government contracting matters. After serving as legislative counsel on energy matters to Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum, Mr. Epps moved to Los Angeles and joined TRW Inc., Space & Defense business sector and served as senior counsel from 1977 to 1989, providing general corporate counsel and support to TRW’s defense and electronic groups.

Mr. Epps joined Tenet Healthcare Corporation (formerly National Medical Enterprises) in 1989, where he was responsible for the legal operations of more than fifty (50) health care facilities, providing legal advice and counsel to Tenet senior management in the areas of health care anti-fraud and abuse, managed care contracting (including risk-sharing and capitated arrangements), mergers and acquisitions of health care facilities, anti-trust and real estate development.

In 1998, Mr. Epps entered private practice and continued to provide extensive legal advice to health care providers, particularly hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.

Mr. Epps received a Bachelor of Business Administration Cum Laude (Finance) from Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, and his Juris Doctor degree from The Ohio State University College of Law where he was a member of the Ohio State Law Journal and a Student Bar Association officer.

Mr. Epps is a member of the State Bar of Ohio, the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Texas.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Ms. Yong’s practice largely involves representing and advising hospitals, DME companies, home health agencies and medical groups in business transactions and regulatory compliance matters.  She focuses on representing clients in secured financing transactions; acquisitions and mergers; provider joint ventures; hospital-physician program affiliations; physician practice and IPA management arrangements; provider network formation and managed care contracting.  She also advises on self-referral, fraud and abuse, general corporate compliance, Medicare and Medi-Cal provider enrollment and payment appeals, reimbursement, licensing, corporate practice of medicine, antitrust and other regulatory issues faced by health care providers.

Ms. Yong has a corporate banking background, having spent four years with Shook Lin & Bok in Singapore, and three years with Freshfields in Singapore and London.  After moving to Los Angeles, she spent five years with the Los Angeles office of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCoy where she practiced with the project finance and banking group.

Having first ventured into the health care industry in 1985 when she represented National Medical Enterprises in the acquisition of Mt. Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, Ms. Yong later joined Tenet Healthcare Corporation in 1992, where she served as Senior Counsel and Vice President. At Tenet, while Ms. Yong had primary responsibility for overseeing the development of integrated delivery systems and managed care strategies for the organization, she particularly enjoyed being an integral member of management team(s) responsible for structuring new business ventures and specialty programs for hospitals.  Through serving as in-house counsel, she also gained significant insight into hospital operations and the legal compliance issues that hospital administrators routinely face.

In 1995, Ms. Yong reentered private practice and joined the health care group of Sidley Austin in Los Angeles, where she became a partner in 1997.  In 2005, she left Sidley Austin to start the Firm with Joseph D. Epps.

Ms. Yong graduated from the National University of Singapore with LLB (Hons) in 1979, and was called to the Bar in Singapore in 1980. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1988.

Ms. Coulson focuses her practice in the areas of business dispute litigation, commercial litigation, real estate litigation, healthcare litigation, employment counseling and creditors' rights/bankruptcy law.  She lectures on these issues, along with effective judgment collections.  Ms. Coulson practices in state and federal court, and regulatory agencies and arbitrations.  Her practice has centered around the following areas:

Advising and representing employers in a broad range of employment law matters, including against wrongful discharge claims, as well as claims involving harassment and discrimination based on race, disability, age, sex, and other protected classes;

Defending clients in the class action context, most commonly in the areas of alleged misclassification and rest/meal period litigation;

Advising employers on the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, the California Business and Professions Code, the Family and Medical Leave Act, employee terminations, litigation avoidance, reductions in force, the development of personnel policies and procedures, workplace violence, pre-employment screening, federal and state wage and hour issues, employment agreements, restrictive covenants, trade secrets and unfair competition; drug and alcohol testing; and conducting in-house employment law training programs on a wide variety of topics including wage and hour issues, accommodation and leave issues;

Prosecuting business/commercial litigation from pre-litigation negotiations of settlements and workouts through obtaining a court judgment;

Advising receivers, institutional, corporate, and individual clients regarding business/commercial litigation and bankruptcy issues in business disputes, partnership disputes, financing issues and real estate issues;

Enforcing judgments and creditors' rights in state and bankruptcy court, including plan feasibility disputes, adversary actions, preference disputes, relief from stay motions, cash collateral matters, employment issues, asset valuation hearings, claim disputes, dismissal or conversion of bankruptcy cases, loan negotiations and workouts within the bankruptcy environment, competing plans and involuntary bankruptcies;

Ms. Coulson is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she received two degrees: a Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts in 1982.  She received her Juris Doctor Degree in 1990 from the University of Denver College of Law, where she received achievement recognition in torts, post-trial procedure, pre-trial practice and the Internship Award for her work in Samsonite Corporation's legal department.  Ms. Coulson represented the University of Denver in regional rounds for the Barrister's Moot Court and the Negotiations Competitions.  She previously owned an import/export business.

Ms. Coulson was admitted to the Colorado Bar in 1990, the California Bar in 1991, and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar in 2010; U.S. District Court, Colorado and U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 1990; U.S. District Court, Central District, Northern District, Eastern District, and Southern District of California, and U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1991.  Ms. Coulson holds a California Real Estate Broker license.  Her other professional affiliations include the State Bar of California; Beverly Hills Bar Association; Beverly Hills Bar Foundation – director; Los Angeles County Bar; American Bankruptcy Institute; Los Angeles Financial Lawyers Conference; Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum; Receiver's Forum, Los Angeles Inn of Court – Bankruptcy; and others.

Ms. Coulson was recognized as a Super Lawyer Top Attorney in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011; and she was a Women of Influence Honoree in 2009.

Mr. Cohen practices in the primary areas of business, healthcare and real estate litigation in federal and state court.  He also has substantial experience in the areas of creditors' rights, receiverships, bankruptcy, and general civil litigation.

In addition to representing private business and real estate clients, Mr. Cohen has served the public while working for the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., where he was involved in a broad range of tax litigation issues.

Mr. Cohen obtained his undergraduate A.B. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992 in Pure Mathematics, with Departmental High Honors.  He attended the University of California, Hastings College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1996 and was a member of the Hastings Civil Justice Clinic.

Mr. Cohen was admitted to the State Bar of California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California in December 1996.

Mr. Wilson practices in the primary areas of bankruptcy, business, and healthcare litigation in state and federal court.  He also has substantial experience representing banks and mortgage lenders in commercial and residential real estate litigation matters.

Mr. Wilson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Dartmouth College in 1997.  After college, Mr. Wilson studied Latin and Greek at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently went on to earn his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004.

Casandra Cushman Secord represents a wide-range of businesses in all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour class actions, single plaintiff wage and hour disputes, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and retaliation.  Ms. Secord has also investigated and successfully defended administrative charges before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  In addition, Ms. Secord provides advice and training to employers on a wide-variety of employment matters, including state and Federal wage and hour laws, leaves of absence, discrimination, harassment, reasonable accommodation, and employment and severance agreements.  Ms. Secord also prepares employment manuals and assists employers in developing best practices to ensure compliance with applicable employment laws.  

Ms. Secord graduated with a degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2001. She subsequently earned her Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School in 2004.

Ms. Secord is admitted to the State Bar of California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the University of Michigan Alumni Association.

Ms. Bal advises clients regarding general business transactions and various health care regulatory matters, including compliance with physician self-referral and anti-kickback laws. She has been involved in numerous transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, secured financing, joint ventures, leasing arrangements, and hospital-physician contracting. She also represents clients in real estate transactions involving acquisition, divesture and financing.

Ms. Bal has experience in administrative appeals involving provider reimbursement issues, including cost report and recovery audit contractor appeals, and has represented physicians involved in investigations by the Medical Board of California. She also handles licensing, certification and accreditation issues for hospitals, medical groups, home health agencies, pharmacies, DME providers, and individual practitioners.

Ms. Bal received her bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in General Financial Management from the University of Southern California in 2002. She received her Juris Doctor degree in 2005 from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she was the recipient of an entering USD Law School Grant.

Ms. Bal was admitted to the State Bar of California in December 2005. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the Corporate and Health Law Sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Ms. Knox's practice includes health care regulatory and compliance matters, business transactions, and civil litigation. She graduated from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she served at the Chief Managing Editor of the Ohio State Law Journal. During law school, Ms. Knox served as an intern at the Alliance for Children's Rights in Los Angeles, CA, in 2008, and worked as a summer associate at the Firm in 2009. She was also a judicial extern for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Mark Abel in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Ms. Knox graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Duke University in 2007. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in December 2010.