Thursday, April 10, 2008

Professional License Defense Attorney Michael Khouri Featured in the Mercury News

Stanford Doctor Free to Practice

Abuse, Embezzlement charges dropped; status of old job in unclear
By Elise Banducci – Mercury News

Stanford physician Cheryl Walker, cleared of charges she abused her elderly grandmother and embezzled from her estate, is once again free to practice medicine in California.

However, officials at Stanford Medical Center, which put the world-renowned reproductive science expert on unpaid leave after charges surfaced, did not return calls for comment on whether she would also be reinstated in her job.
The Medical Board of California suspended Walker’s license in May 2002, several months after she and her mother, Janice Walker, were indicted in what prosecutors said was a scheme to loot the estate of family matriarch Mary Lee Koleber, 95, and hasten her death with a “lethal cocktail” of drugs.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Cheryl Walker and cut a deal with her mother last month after a key witness against the pair admitted forging documents, shattering his credibility.

The medical board had 30 days after the charges were dropped –which was Thursday – to file papers to keep the suspension in place, said David Carr, deputy attorney general representing the medical board. Though the suspension expired, the board has up to three years after the arrest to investigate and take further action.

Friday, Walker paid the renewal fee for her medical license, which expired during the suspension, her attorney Mike Khouri said. Khouri said he did not know the status of his client’s discussions with Stanford.

“I would hope that since the criminal charges have been dismissed, and since her license has been reinstated, that Stanford would do the right thing and reinstate her to her position,” he said. Khouri also said Walker was weighing various academic and clinical opportunities elsewhere.

In her statement last week to the judge, before hoer mother was sentenced, Cheryl Walker said that her career had suffered irreparable harm and that she would have to move to start over.

Her mother, a 74-year-old retired nurse, pleaded no contest earlier this month to elder abuse and embezzlement and received a two-year sentence. She is expected to be releases on parole after no more than eight months in a minimum security prison. Walker, 45, has two young children.

Khourilaw.com

Mary Lee Wegner - Employment Counsel

Mary Lee Wegner is an employment lawyer with more than 21 years of experience litigating employment cases and advising employers and employees about their respective workplace obligations.

Her current practice focuses heavily on employment counseling, investigation of harassment, discrimination, retaliation and other allegations, and pre-litigation resolution of employment claims. She also drafts and negotiates employment and separation agreements and provides training to individuals and groups regarding harassment and discrimination prevention, anger management and techniques for improved management and communication skills.

Ms. Wegner spent several years as a commercial and employment litigator with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles and then moved in-house to provide counsel to ABC, Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corporation. More recently, she was a partner at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan from 1998 to 2006, until she decided to form her own practice in 2007 focusing primarily on employment counseling, training and investigations.

While at ABC and Occidental Petroleum, Ms. Wegner supervised litigation, managed outside counsel, responded to EEOC and DFEH complaints, conducted internal harassment, discrimination and other EEO investigations, worked closely with human resources professionals to develop, draft and revise employment policies and provided a substantial amount of employment counseling and advice. In private practice, Ms. Wegner has tried cases and argued appeals, handled DFEH and EEOC claims, investigated and advised employers about harassment, discrimination and retaliation claims, drafted handbooks for, and provided employment counseling to, companies of all sizes, negotiated and drafted employment agreements and severance packages, negotiated with state and federal EEO and other agencies and handled a number of mediations and arbitrations involving both employment and complex commercial issues.

Ms. Wegner lectures frequently in the area of employment law and has conducted a number of training sessions for clients regarding sexual harassment and discrimination prevention, diversity issues, anger management, ways to improve management skills and communication and other employment topics. She is also the co-author of a chapter on trial preparation and procedure for the Rutter Group publication entitled, “California Practice Guide: Employment Litigation."

Employment Counsel & Attorney

The Khouri Law Firm - Professional License Defense Attorney

Michael Khouri has been practicing law in Orange County for over 26 years.
He is considered an expert in professional licensing defense and the defense of Medi-Care/Medi-Cal audits, and has tried in excess of 100 cases. An expert in representing health care providers, Michael has proven his abilities with a number of cases and has spoken at multiple events. He is recognized throughout California and the Country for his integrity and firm resolve to help his clients get the best possible resolution to their licensing or criminal matters.

Mr. Khouri started his career as a Deputy District Attorney in Orange County.
He routinely practiced before the trial and appellate courts when he was a prosecutor and focused his practice on the legality of police conduct in major narcotics investigations. In this regard, Mr. Khouri argued the case of People v. Bravo (1987) 43 Cal.3d 600 before the California Supreme Court and represented the state wide association of prosecutors. The Bravo case established a new standard for the search of repeat narcotic offenders.

Once in private practice, Mr. Khouri began to develop a specialty representing health care providers (ie doctors, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, pharmacists, psychologists etc) in criminal cases such as medical billing fraud, narcotics cases and sexual assault on patients, including rape. He has handled these cases across the country and has lectured nationally in front of state wide medical associations. Mr. Khouri is a member of the indigent defense panel in the U.S. District Court-Central District of California and in that capacity acts as a privately contracted federal public defender. He recently was lead counsel on the Mexican Mafia organized crime case and has represented other major defendants in large drug conspiracy cases, alien smuggling cases, bank robberies and more. Mr. Khouri is AV rated by Martindalle-Hubbell.

Professional License Defense Attorney