Nikki Baniewicz

Nikolette (Nikki) Baniewicz is special counsel in the firm’s Trial Practice Group focusing mostly on healthcare related matters. Ms. Baniewicz counsels’ businesses, clients and executive teams on regulatory compliance, healthcare corporate governance, and employment matters. A trusted, strategic advisor and business partner, she draws on her experience as general counsel and compliance officer to help organizations mitigate risk, implement effective governance structures and navigate complex regulatory frameworks.

Her practice is dedicated to representing all pharmacy provider types, throughout the United States, including retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, specialty pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, among others. She routinely assists pharmacies in obtaining network status after being denied access and has successfully represented pharmacies in overturning decisions by pharmacy benefit managers to terminate them from their networks.

She has also represented numerous pharmacies in connection with responding to audits and has successfully challenged audit results, saving millions of dollars for her clients. She regularly counsels’ pharmacies on refusals by payors and PBMs to abide by Federal and State any willing provider laws and other legal requirements and various reimbursement rate issues.

Before establishing her own firm, for almost 10 years, Ms. Baniewicz, served as general counsel and chief compliance officer of a private equity backed high-volume, national group of pharmacies specializing in dermatology, where she handled PBM disputes, licensing, privacy / security, governmental investigations, and audits. She developed and implemented a companywide compliance program encompassing policies, auditing and monitoring programs, cybersecurity, and employee training. During her time in-house, she also led the due diligence and transaction process, on both the buy and sell side for more than 30 acquisitions (including multiple nine-figure transactions) and oversaw corporate governance (as Secretary and Treasurer), human resources, compliance, and legal affairs for over 35 pharmacy locations and 450 employees nationwide.

Additionally, she has represented other healthcare practices and technology companies in various regulatory, corporate governance, employment, real estate and transactional matters.

Ms. Baniewicz is a cum laude graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, where she earned a Certificate in Estate Planning, and earned her undergraduate degree from the University at Buffalo, cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Marketing.