The Financial Times has shortlisted two different Nelson Mullins initiatives for its 2022 Innovative Lawyers Awards for North America.

They are: Transformation Enablement in the Innovation in New Services category and Rural Healthcare Initiative in the Innovation in Responsible Business category.  

Winners will be announced at an awards dinner in New York City on Dec. 5, 2022.

New York City-based partners Ed Hansen and Val Gross have developed methodologies that collapse the complexity of navigating transformational, relationship-based deals and ultimately drive innovation and collaboration in a way that transcends contractual commitments. Their innovation, Transformation Enablement, uses these methodologies to create true alignment between their clients and their vendor partners, focusing on shared outcomes and value optimization for both parties, rather than allowing cost and risk to dominate discussions and negotiations. 

When asked whether clients embrace what seems to be a “touchy-feely” approach, they responded: “Characterizing Transformation Enablement as ‘touchy feely’ diminishes its power.  Collaboration is challenging.  Creating psychological safety requires skill and grit. By going through their relationship-forming process with us, both parties learn how to use these skills to work through problems.”

The Rural Health Initiative (RHI) is a collaborative organization of national healthcare consulting firms, with the common mission of creating and maintaining local healthcare delivery options for the 20 percent of Americans living in non-urbanized areas. Robert L. Wilson, Jr., Nelson Mullins’ Raleigh Office Managing Partner, founded the organization in September 2021 and recruited colleagues and industry leaders to build RHI as a mission-based, multi-disciplinary education and consulting solution for rural healthcare providers. Firms providing access to their healthcare professionals and resources include Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, Ascendient Healthcare Advisors, Criterion Healthcare, Health Management Resources, and Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock.

RHI works on two tracks simultaneously to create a plan: the nonprofit arm educates key stakeholders on the important issues facing rural healthcare today and the consulting arm offers comprehensive services that address the major pain points in healthcare delivery.

The FT Innovative Lawyers Program assesses lawyers on their innovation for clients and in their own businesses. It consists of rankings and awards based on independent research from RSG Consulting and journalism from The Financial Times. The results are announced at an awards event, and the rankings are published as an FT Special Report.

Established in 1897, Nelson Mullins has more than 930 attorneys and government relations professionals with 31 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C. For more information on the firm, go to www.nelsonmullins.com.