K&L Gates Boosts Higher Education, Health Care Practices with Addition of Former UNC-Chapel Hill General Counsel to Research Triangle Park Office

Research Triangle Park - The Research Triangle Park office of global law firm K&L Gates LLP welcomes David M. Parker as an of counsel in the higher education institutions and health care practices. With more than 25 years of experience representing colleges and universities, Parker most recently was interim vice chancellor and general counsel at the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill, from where he retired last fall after two decades of service.

“I have admired David Parker as an exceptional lawyer and person for a very long time,” said Mary Beth F. Johnston, administrative partner of K&L Gates’ Research Triangle Park office and a co-leader of the firm’s health care practice. “We are very fortunate to have him join K&L Gates. His knowledge and experience in higher education and on health care matters will be of immense value to our clients.”

Parker began his career in higher education law in 1991 as a lawyer with the section of the Office of the Attorney General of North Carolina that represented the 17-campus UNC system. He joined the legal staff at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1994, and for a decade was the primary lawyer for the technology licensing office before his promotion to the role of deputy general counsel, in which he oversaw a broader portfolio of matters such as health care transactions, start-up formation, and litigation.

In December 2015, Parker was named interim vice chancellor and general counsel with responsibility for coordinating and directing legal services across the university, including in such areas as employment and tenure matters; institutional review of whistleblower claims; conflicts of interest; research misconduct; foundation relationships; governance; statutory and regulatory drafting; licensing transactions; and Title IX investigations.

“Higher education institution and health care organization clients operate in increasingly complicated environments,” stated Parker. “I’m excited to join K&L Gates’ strong practices serving both those sectors.”

With clients ranging from regional community colleges to large research universities, lawyers in K&L Gates’ higher education institutions practice help colleges and universities address a diverse set of legal challenges, drawing upon broad experiences gained over decades of counseling higher education institutions in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Last year, K&L Gates also welcomed former Yale University vice president and general counsel Dorothy K. Robinson as an of counsel in the firm’s New York office, where she is a member of the higher education and tax-exempt organizations/nonprofit institutions practices. 

K&L Gates’ health care lawyers counsel clients — including major academic medical centers, tertiary care hospitals and established community and regional health care providers, and national health care businesses — on a variety of state and federal regulatory and compliance issues affecting operations, expansions, and reorganizations. Parker’s arrival follows the addition of health care policy partner Amanda Makki in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, as well as two other partners in K&L Gates’ Research Triangle Park office in just over a year, including Erica Jackson (FDA), and Lori Hinnant (environmental policy and regulatory).