Nelson Hardiman is proud to announce that litigation partner Lee S. Arian has been appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as California Superior Court Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Arian joined Nelson Hardiman as a partner in 2017. Previously, he served as vice president of advisory services at Optum Inc. from 2015 to 2017 and staff vice president at Anthem Inc., where he oversaw compliance from 2004 to 2015. He also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 1991 to 2004 and was an associate at Dewey Ballantine from 1988 to 1991. Arian earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Scott M. Gordon.

“Lee is not only an outstanding lawyer who we were blessed to have join our firm,” said Harry Nelson, Nelson Hardiman’s Founder and Managing Partner, “but also a true public servant and a person of the highest integrity who is deserving of this appointment. We are very grateful to Lee for his many contributions to Nelson Hardiman and excited for California and Los Angeles to have the benefit of Lee’s wisdom.”

Over the past 25 years, Lee Arian has earned a national reputation as a leader in the fight for greater integrity in the U.S. healthcare system. An authority on healthcare fraud and abuse, he focused on deterring and detecting fraud that costs the system billions of dollars a year. Lee’s tireless work and outstanding reputation among prosecutors and health regulators earned trust and helped to resolve difficult disputes during his time with Nelson Hardiman.

Lee’s years of litigation and government enforcement experience in both criminal and civil cases, is uniquely bolstered by a dozen years of leadership in executive positions among the nation’s largest health insurers. As a Vice President for Optum’s advisory services team, he provided counsel to United Healthcare, as well as several small, primarily Medicaid plans, on fraud and abuse issues. As Staff Vice President at Anthem, he oversaw the enterprise fraud and abuse audit efforts, implementing cutting edge tools to ensure regulatory compliance with all federal and state laws relating to recovery. He also provided written testimony to Congress on healthcare fraud activities and met with select Congressional members and committee staffers to address pressing healthcare fraud issues. Lee spent nearly eight years in the United States Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division Public Corruption and Government Fraud section where he served as the heathcarehealth care fraud coordinator, investigating and prosecuting fraud involving health care, government programs, banks, securities and taxes.

About Nelson Hardiman
Nelson Hardiman LLP is the premier healthcare and life sciences specialty firm in Los Angeles, serving healthcare providers, investors, and organizations that need a hard-to-find level of quality advice on the most sensitive industry issues. The firm’s litigation practice specializes in defending fraud and abuse and whistleblower actions, government investigations, reimbursement disputes, and other complex business disputes. Nelson Hardiman’s transactional group handles healthcare organization acquisitions, sales, investment, and financings, and Nelson Hardiman’s regulatory team advises on compliance with licensing, operational, and reimbursement issues across the full continuum of healthcare industry sectors, with expertise on Medicare and Medicaid requirements, privacy and data security, FDA, and many more matters. The firm has earned a singular position reputation nationally for its leadership in addressing emerging issues related to healthcare innovation, including telehealth, behavioral health, and the COVID-19 pandemic. More information about the firm is available at www.nelsonhardiman.com or at 310.203.2800.

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