Dan Gerhan got his start in the law at Morgan Lewis when he wasn’t yet a lawyer.
He began his career at the firm as a paralegal and law clerk and then enrolled in Georgetown Law, attending classes at night, initially. “Working at Morgan Lewis helped quite a lot. Writing briefs and analyzing problems every day made the law school regimen so much easier. But the firm also did a great job in providing the flexibility to let me attend classes during the summer months, and afterward I transferred to the full-time day division. The firm’s support was a huge part of my law school experience,” Dan said.
The firm hired Dan as an associate in 1984. He practiced in the labor section but worked on some employment cases with Bob Smith in the early days, before the Labor and Employment Practice became a full-fledged practice group. He assisted in handling large collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters union and the United Mine Workers, among others.
“I really enjoyed my time at Morgan Lewis. Role models like Chuck O’Connor, Harry Rissetto, Brad Coupe, Bob Smith, Bob Dufek, Tom Wotring, Jim Kelley, and Margery Sinder Friedman, to name just a few, provided tremendous help. They showed me how to practice law the right way.”
After leaving Morgan Lewis and completing a stint at another firm, Dan joined Guidant, the predecessor of leading medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific, where he is now the Director and Senior Litigation Counsel, Employment, Business Litigation & Government Investigations.
Dan manages any of Boston Scientific’s outside litigation that isn’t related to product liability or intellectual property. Many disputes relate to employment and noncompete agreements. Working in a highly regulated industry, he is also heavily involved in managing the company’s responses to government investigations.
“Because of the expansion of healthcare, the role of the federal government is growing. A fair amount of our business is with Medicare programs, so we’re under scrutiny to ensure that our programs are run appropriately. From my standpoint, there is a constant requirement to be very vigilant about what our businesses are doing. We need to be compliant because it’s always the right thing to do and because not being compliant can be a very expensive consequence for us.”
Many of the company’s medical devices involve the heart, ranging from cardiovascular stents to defibrillators, Dan said, adding that other growing businesses include stents for the peripheral vasculature, pain management, endoscopy, and urology and women’s health. “All those businesses interface with state and federal governments,” Dan said. “We make sure no part of our operations is creating issues with healthcare fraud. Something could go wrong at any point in the business process.”
After so many years with law firms, Dan enjoys being with a company. Working within a business is different from a law firm. The biggest difference is the speed at which decisions are made. The speed for all lawyers, both in companies and law firms, has increased enormously in the last 25 years.
“Clients need an answer more quickly. What used to take a couple of weeks is done in a day, and what was done in a day needs to be done in five minutes. Business units need answers right now.”
Like many lawyers, Dan has limited time for outside projects. However, he finds time to engage in pro bono efforts, recently serving needy veterans at a local “stand-down” event and to discuss what he knows best as a speaker at professional association meetings.
Most recently, he addressed the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel on whistleblowers. “This is a phenomenon that didn’t occur much before 1987, when U.S. Congress made it easier to bring qui tam lawsuits. The amount recovered continues to increase, with a level now exceeding $2 billion a year.”
Married with three children, Dan lives and works in Minneapolis.
