CoxHealth hires its first in-house counsel

by Jill Henry

SBJ Reporter

jhenry@sbj.net

For the first time in its 98-year history, CoxHealth has its own in-house attorney.

Charity Elmer joined the staff Feb. 9 as general counsel. She heads up a staff of six in the risk management department, which includes a risk manager, director of safety and support staff. Among her responsibilities are personnel issues, guardianships, writing policies and contract review.

Immediate access

Bob Bezanson, executive vice president/chief operating officer of CoxHealth, said it was time to consider an in-house general counsel for many reasons, the biggest being continuity.

"There are so many issues that an in-house attorney gets involved with everything from contracts to medical staff issues, employment law, guardianships just myriad different responsibilities. It's important to have continuity. It's also important to have immediate access, and that drives a lot of efficiencies, and quite frankly, it's time we had that resource directly at our fingertips," Bezanson said.

The new position helps other CoxHealth employees regain focus on their own duties.

"Our risk manager, who is not an attorney, was in charge of assigning malpractice cases to attorneys. Various vice presidents within the organization would confer with attorneys for various services that were needed, such as contracts or employment issues. So it wasn't centralized. It was a decentralized process," Bezanson said.

The addition of the general counsel position gives CoxHealth employees a level of expertise that they didn't have before.

Experience

A graduate of Drury University and University of Arkansas School of Law, Elmer came to CoxHealth after five years in private practice with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin.

"Blackwell's a wonderful firm," Elmer said. "I probably would have never left Blackwell if it wasn't for an opportunity like this. I just can't say enough good things about that firm. I got very good training from that firm."

Randy Scheer, a senior partner at Blackwell Sanders, said the firm was sorry to see Elmer go.

"But this is an excellent opportunity for her, one for which she was well prepared to handle because of her broad experience here at the firm. She is a skilled attorney with great instincts and those skills and instincts will serve her well."

At Blackwell Sanders, Elmer "did anything that came across my desk, so I had experience in general litigation, labor and employment, education law, product liability. I had done some divorces, I was working on an adoption, I had done real estate work, contract work. I had done it all. That really has helped a lot because all of those issues come across my desk routinely. I don't know how you could do this job without knowing a little bit about most everything," she said.

Elmer's broad range of experience is what landed her the job over about nine candidates through a hiring process that began early last fall, Bezanson said.

While her previous position required working for many clients, Elmer said her new job gives her "basically one client to focus on, which is nice. I do have one client, but within this one client, Cox, we are numerous corporations."

Legal work, outside counsel

Under Elmer's care are the legal issues concerning the health system's 9,000 employees, approximately 56 clinics and 400 physicians, she said. "You wouldn't believe the amount of legal work. There's plenty to do here."

CoxHealth still relies on attorneys outside of its payroll for assistance.

"Anything that's a lawsuit or someone has sued us, we get outside counsel," Elmer said. "A lot of what I do, it would cost a fortune to farm everything out."

Outside counsel used by CoxHealth includes Monte Clithero of Taylor Stafford Clithero Fitzgerald & Harris LLP; Cliff Smart of The Strong Law Firm; Rod Loomer and Mike Patton of Turner Reid Duncan Loomer & Patton PC; Lowther Johnson; and Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, Elmer said.