She took a chance and built a successful new litigation practice group for her firm
In 2015, while still an associate at Robins Kaplan, I faced a leadership challenge that would ultimately define the trajectory of my career. Alongside two partners, I helped develop and grow the Health Care Litigation Practice Group focused on representing health insurers in affirmative litigation against providers involving claims of fraud, RICO, and breach of contract. At the time, the idea of a young associate co-founding a new practice group within an established firm—particularly in a space where we had no name recognition—was a bold and uncertain undertaking.
We recognized a gap in the market: While many firms represented insurers defensively, few pursued affirmative recoveries on their behalf, despite the widespread prevalence of provider fraud in the healthcare industry. We believed that our firm’s historical representation of plaintiffs, trial experience, and ability and interest in sharing risk with clients could offer something uniquely valuable to these clients.
The leadership challenge lay in building credibility and momentum from the ground up. We were entering a new sector, seeking to shift the paradigm by advocating for payors to go on the offensive. To gain traction, we leaned on our technical and legal expertise—my background in pharmacology, coupled with our team’s litigation skills—to identify complex fraud schemes and present proactive strategies to clients.
It was an all-hands-on-deck effort. I helped identify and develop cases internally, refined our litigation approach, and contributed to early trial wins that demonstrated our value. We went from representing one payor to over ten—including four of the five largest in the country. Today, our group is the largest in the Minneapolis Litigation Department in both size and revenue, and we’ve recovered over $250 million for our clients.
What began as a calculated risk became a highly successful, specialized practice. The experience taught me that leadership isn’t about title or tenure; it’s about having the vision to see what could be, the conviction to pursue it, and the persistence to overcome the inevitable obstacles along the way.
Leading this initiative as a young attorney also helped shape the leader I strive to be today: one who invites new ideas, empowers others to step into leadership early, and recognizes that often the most significant innovations come from those willing to challenge the status quo. That early leadership challenge wasn’t just about building a practice. It was about building confidence in my ability to lead and creating space for others to do the same.
