Kristin E. Fernandez

Ask Kristin Fernandez what the most important characteristic a healthcare fraud defense attorney can have, and she’ll be quick to respond with “compassion.”

“I understand the substantial amount of time and effort it takes to become a successful healthcare professional,” she says. “But I also know the magnitude of stress a medical provider feels when having tough conversations with me as their advisor.

“Defending my clients’ licenses, reactions, livelihood, and freedom is my passion, which is why I make a strong effort to make clients comfortable.”

Kristin is an attorney in Chapman Law Group’s White Collar Defense & Government Investigations practice group. In her practice, she advocates and represents physicians, pharmacists, specialty practitioners, and other licensed healthcare professionals facing health care fraud charges, Stark Law and Anti-Kickback violations, and controlled substance-related crimes.

Among her representative matters, Kristin counts:

• Negotiating a plea agreement that was less than half the range of federal sentencing guidelines, for a client who was unknowingly involved in a fraudulent scheme. The client would have faced 25 years’ maximum for healthcare fraud and false statement related to healthcare matters.
• Assisting a client in successfully completing and resolving an insurance carrier audit and maintaining credentialing with this provider.
• Successfully negotiating return for portions of clients’ assets that were seized pursuant to collateral civil forfeiture actions.

Her background as a defense attorney includes litigating general negligence and premises, product, and automotive liability matters. She also gained strong insight and experience in federal defense matters as judicial intern to Hon. Sean F. Cox, of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Kristin is strongly involved in Michigan and national legal associations. She serves as director for the Oakland County Bar Association’s New Lawyer Committee; is communications secretary with the Women’s Bar Association – Oakland Region of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan; and served on the council for the State Bar of Michigan’s Young Lawyer Section.

She holds accolades from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, such as Class President, recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship for Academic Achievement, induction into the Frank Murphy Honor Society (reserved for students graduating in the top 10% of their class), and membership in the Alpha Sigma Nu Honor Society. In addition, Kristin founded and served as president of the Detroit Mercy Mentorship Program, where she would assist incoming student in acclimating to the law school environment, and acted as vice president for the American Constitution Society.