NICHOLSON & EASTIN - Key Persons
Ms. Ferber was born and raised in Oldsmar, Florida. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Florida, and she received her Juris Doctor degree from the Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern University.
Ms. Ferber concentrates her practice on health care regulatory and compliance matters, representation of health care providers, civil litigation, and white collar criminal defense. Ms. Ferber has a wide array of experience litigating and counseling clients in administrative hearings and appeals. She is a member of state and national legal and health law organizations including the Health Law Section of the Florida Bar and the American Academy of Professional Coders.
Prior to joining Nicholson & Eastin, LLP, Ms. Ferber interned at the State Attorney's Office in Broward County where she gained experience as a trial attorney.
Mr. Eastin is one of the founding partners of Nicholson & Eastin, LLP and has over twenty years of experience handling health care fraud matters, health care regulatory and compliance matters, health care administrative (licensure) matters, and health care transactional matters. Over the course of his career, Mr. Eastin has acquired significant experience practicing in the areas of health care fraud and regulatory law, civil fraud matters, and False Claims Act whistleblower litigation.
Mr. Eastin attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY, for his undergraduate studies, where he obtained a B.A. in Philosophy and graduated summa cum laude. He then attended the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he served as the Managing Editor of the Kentucky Law Journal and graduated fourth in his class. Following law school, Mr. Eastin joined King & Spalding in Atlanta, GA, an international law firm. Mr. Eastin was selected to be a member of King & Spalding's Special Matters and Government Investigations team, which represents corporations and individuals in complex federal and state criminal investigations, internal investigations and Congressional investigations, as well as in related civil and regulatory proceedings. The special matters team is staffed in large part by former federal and state prosecutors, including several former Department of Justice officials, and Mr. Eastin had the unique fortune of working for two partners in Atlanta that both eventually left King & Spalding to serve as the Deputy U.S. Attorney General (Mr. Larry Thompson and Mr. Gary Grindler). During his time with King & Spalding, Mr. Eastin gained significant experience dealing with matters involving federal grand juries, corporate internal investigations, healthcare fraud, the False Claims Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and whistleblower issues. After several years with King & Spalding, Mr. Eastin was recruited to join Broad and Cassel, a regional Florida law firm that specializes in healthcare regulatory matters and white collar criminal defense, where he worked closely with Mr. Robert Nicholson.
Since the inception of Nicholson & Eastin, Mr. Eastin has handled a variety of administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement actions in the healthcare context, and his practice also includes health care transactions and compliance.
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney
- Adjunct Professor of Law
Mr. Nicholson is a former state and federal prosecutor with extensive experience in healthcare compliance, white collar, and regulatory enforcement matters. He has over 25 years experience and is a frequent instructor and lecturer on federal and state enforcement matters relating to the healthcare industry, the False Claims Act and white collar criminal defense matters. Mr. Nicholson concentrates his practice on representing licensed professionals and other healthcare providers in all phases of administrative, civil and criminal health care regulatory matters. Mr. Nicholson represents clients before licensing boards; before federal regulatory agencies such as HHS, DEA, and FDA; in state criminal investigations; and in federal grand jury investigations. He also represents professionals and entities in all regulated industries in federal and state white collar criminal matters. Mr. Nicholson is an accomplished trial attorney, having tried numerous cases in state and federal courts, as well as before administrative agencies. Mr. Nicholson also represents healthcare providers in civil litigation relating to health care and related commercial litigation matters.
Before entering private practice, Mr. Nicholson practiced law in South Florida as an Assistant United States Attorney. During his last 10 years with the United States Attorneys Office, he prosecuted health care fraud, False Claims Act, drug diversion and FDA regulatory cases. Mr. Nicholson was twice selected to serve as the national Healthcare Fraud Coordinator and national Affirmative Civil Enforcement Coordinator at the Executive Office for United States Attorneys.
Mr. Nicholson is an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching Health Care Fraud and Abuse and is a regular speaker at conferences on healthcare fraud, False Claims Act, drug diversion and FDA enforcement matters, and he has published multiple articles and guides on these topics as well. Additionally, Mr. Nicholson is frequently quoted in healthcare industry professional and trade journals.
Mr. Nicholson is a High Honors graduate from The Florida State University College of Law, where he also served on the Law Review staff.
Mr. Nicholson was Co-Chair of the Enforcement Committee of the American Health Lawyers Association Fraud and Abuse Practice Group.
Mr. Nicholson previously served a member of the Executive Council of the Health Law Section of the Florida Bar for 4 years.
Mr. Nicholson has received an attorney rating of "Superb," the highest rating possible from AVVO. Mr. Nicholson has been recognized by SuperLawyers since 2014. Mr. Nicholson has also inducted into the National Association of Distinguished Counsel which recognizes the "Top 1% of Attorneys" nationally. Additionally, Mr. Nicholson was recently named to the Florida Trend Magazine list of Legal Elite.
Prior to founding Nicholson & Eastin, LLP., Mr. Nicholson was Of Counsel to a large law firm which specialized in health law matters.
Mr. Nicholson is also an Instrument Rated Private Pilot.