Orrick assembles seven-person regulatory team in DC and Boston (1)

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe expands its seven-lawyer health care regulatory practice with offices in Washington, D.C. and Boston.

Georgia Ravitz, who led the FDA regulatory practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, is moving to Orrick, the firm announced Thursday. Partners Amy Joseph and Jeremy Sherer are joining Orrick from health care regulatory boutique Hooper Lundy & Bookman.

Founded in San Francisco, the firm has a long history of working with clients in the technology, energy and financial sectors. Orrick is in the midst of a 10-year plan to grow its life sciences practice, and the new additions to the team “really complete the package,” said Stephen Thau, co-leader of the firm’s Life Sciences & HealthTech initiative.

Orrick’s life sciences and health technology platform has more than quadrupled to 53 partners in the past five years, according to the firm. Its lawyers work with more than 600 life sciences clients, the firm said, including pharmaceutical giants like Johnson & Johnson and Bayer AG, as well as biotech companies like Twist Bioscience and digital health company K Health.

Their regulatory expertise is becoming increasingly important after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the power of federal agencies to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, Thau said. The June 28 ruling eliminated a decades-old doctrine that required courts to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous regulations.

“We’re entering a period of significant regulatory uncertainty,” Thau said. “A lot of clients are already reaching out to us about how this will impact their businesses, so we’re thrilled that Amy, Jeremy and Georgia are here to help clients navigate these issues,” he said.

Wilson Sonsini said senior counsel Shari Fleishman Esfahani and Scott Cohn will also join Orrick.

Ravitz advises companies on food and drug law and regulatory policy. She joined Wilson Sonsini in 2019 from ArentFox, where she led the firm’s consumer product safety practice.

Joseph works with healthcare companies on regulatory and transactional matters, including compliance with federal and state anti-corruption laws and patient privacy regulations.

Sherer previously served as co-chair of Hooper Lundy’s Digital Health practice, where he advises healthcare clients on establishing and scaling virtual care delivery models across multiple states and navigating regulatory issues that arise in digital health endeavors.

“We simply felt it was the right time and that this move would allow us to provide our customers with improved solutions as they grow, innovate and scale,” Sherer said.

Orrick wants to continue to grow with its clients, said Thora Johnson, who co-directs the initiative. “There are no limits to growth, and we’re always looking to add additional talented attorneys to our group,” she said.