Lawyers for California Doctors (SM)

(Including text from the law firm and Martindale - Hubble)

     BARTHOLOMEW ("Bart") LEE, long time litigation counsel to the law firm of Spiegel, Liao & Kagay, www.slksf.com San Francisco, earned his undergraduate degree from St. John's College in 1968 (cum laude) and his J.D. from the University of Chicago in 1971, where he was an Instructor and Senior Bigelow Teaching Fellow from 1971-73. He taught Law & Economics as an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University (San Francisco) from 1983 to 2003.  He has recently webpublished an article about Physicians' Peer Review through the American Health Lawyers Association, of which he is a member.  He has also published on a diverse range of issues from the Civil Code through antitrust to a legal pun in Chaucer.

     Mr. Lee has litigated (in federal court primarily) for more than thirty five years, including four jury trials. Martindale Hubble awarded him the Peer-Review rating "AV" its highest rating for ability and integrity.  Many physicians, many lawyers, and many businesses and their owners have found his counsel and advocacy client focused, effective and cost efficient.  

     Mr. Lee has achieved many outstanding trial and appellate results, recently:

     >  in 2004 in Yaqub vs. Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System,  a federal matter in which he handled the now-resolved money claims (see also 122 Cal. App. 4th 474, 18 Cal. Rptr. 3d 780 (2004) Charly Kagay and the firm's precedent setting appellate victory in the parallel state case), and 

     >  in Bay World Trading, Ltd. vs. Nebraska Beef, Inc., (his trial of a UCC commercial dispute) appeal reported 101 Cal. App. 4th 135 (2002).  

     Mr. Lee has counseled Dr. Gil Mileikowsky, and co-authored many articles and submissions with him, for several years.  In 2009, in Mileikowsky v. West Hills Hospital,   45 Cal.4th 1259, Charles Kagay and the firm won an industry-changing appellate victory for Dr. Mileikowsky.  In a victory for all health care professionals, the Court held that hospitals could not have lawyers alone make peer review decisions committed by law to other physicians. 

     Mr. Lee is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the California Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and all federal courts in the State of California.  He has appeared pro hac vice in state and federal courts and administrative agencies in New York, Illinois, Arizona and other states. 

     A Semmelweis Society Clean Hands Award was made to Mr. Lee, in 2008 "for your courage and self-sacrifice in safeguarding patient care by exposing institutional abuse in the medical community."

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What I can do for you:  

Litigation, Mediation, Appeals and Deals. (SM)

     Practicing on the leading edge of the law generates many appellate and otherwise reported cases. This practice has ranged from cases involving the CIA, organized crime, federal and state prosecutors (as defendants), hostile foreign governments, the IRS, and rather more mundane adversaries such as multinational oil companies and IBM. 

     My extensive litigation experience has included:

     ·      Administrative law and professional qualifications, including physicians’ peer review and discipline and Medical Board and Dental Board issues;

      .     Physicians' organizations and individual physician's business affairs;

      ·      Constitutional issues and civil rights cases, particularly  discrimination against physicians, Equal Protection and Due Process of Law, and First Amendment questions as well as property rights;

     .      Cases against various U.S. government agencies and special agents and attorneys, including the CIA and IRS;

     ·      General business litigation and commercial contracts;

     ·      RICO matters, antitrust and racketeering (both plaintiff and defense);

     ·      Copyright and trade secrets cases;

     ·      Litigation management of specialist counsel.

     Avoiding the hearing room and the courtroom is, however, often the better way; in this regard, I have been privileged to have been able to counsel clients in many areas including physicians' affairs,  business structures and transactions, fine arts issues, real estate transactions and development, trade secrets and intellectual property, winery operations, electronics retailing, museum and other non-profit managements,  and domestic relations. 

     In the process of litigation, I have effected challenging resolutions, often through intense mediation, e.g., that for Dr. Nick Yaqub.  I have in recent years chosen to emphasize mediation advocacy as well as serving as counsel to professional practices, businesses and individuals regarding dispute avoidance and resolution, intellectual property management and defense, fine arts law, and international regulation. 

     Additionally, I have worked on evolving health care industry issues such as restraint of trade matters involving the Federal Trade Commission and physician and hospital relations.  Drafting medical association resolutions and proposed statutory amendments has proven very rewarding. I have also served as pro bono counsel to non-profit groups such as physicians' organizations and museums, and to governmental and non-proft emergency services organizations.