November 18, 2002
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By Erik Cummins
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco’s Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy has a substantial health care practice with 15 lawyers focusing exclusively on the field. But as Craig Cannizzo’s practice evolved, the longtime partner’s health care work began to better resemble what was being done at Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, a 37-lawyer health law boutique that is the nation’s largest.
On Nov. 1, after 26 years at Hanson Bridgett, Cannizzo jumped ship and joined Hooper Lundy.
Cannizzo has a specialty within a specialty: he handles health care reimbursement disputes for hospitals and medical groups. It wasn’t a practice common at Hanson Bridgett, where Cannizzo was the only partner focusing on litigating medical claims with state and local agencies.
“I was becoming a bit isolated,” he says of his time at Hanson Bridgett.
Combining his practice with those of the partners at Hooper Lundy, who have been doing similar work since the firm’s founding in 1987, made sense, he says.
Allan Jergesen, who heads Hanson Bridgett’s healthcare group, agrees that Cannizzo’s practice probably fits better at Hooper Lundy.
“His practice focused on a certain area, and [he told me] Hooper Lundy was more congenial to that practice,” Jergesen says.
“It’s really what they do, and I had to say, ‘Yeah, I think that’s right,'” Jergesen says.
John Wagner, a health care partner with Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott in Sacramento, says Cannizzo is a “well-recognized” name in health care law. Despite his departure, Hanson Bridgett will remain a prominent player in the health care field, he says.
Cannizzo joined Hanson Bridgett in 1976. In addition to litigating reimbursement claims, he also handles mergers and acquisitions related to health care. His clients include the California Healthcare Association and the California Ambulance Association.
Hooper Lundy has offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Watanabe, Nason & Seltzer brokered the move.