Profile in Brief-- Rose Willis Health/car(e) law

By Taryn Hartman Legal News It's hard to imagine two specialties being further apart on the legal spectrum than automotive and health care law, but Miller Canfield associate Rose Willis is a local bridge between the two. "The health industry has been a really busy industry," says Willis, a key member of the firm's rapidly expanding health law practice. Her words won't surprise anyone who has been paying attention to the legislative news coming out of Washington, D.C. It also shouldn't come as much of a stretch that Willis's focus on corporate law--she earned her BBA at Saginaw Valley State University--led her into a practice area dominated by automakers. And even though Willis predicts she'll be devoting 100 percent of her time to health care matters within the next year, she was recently re-appointed to a two-year term as vice president and general counsel for the Michigan-based Automotive Women's Alliance Foundation. "We see a need for that with the limited number of women who are in the industry right now as compared to men," she says of the group, which offers scholarships to women studying to work in the automotive field and supports those who are already there. Currently concentrated around Detroit, the AWAF is hoping to expand as the auto industry moves out of Michigan, Willis explains. "We're hoping in the future that we become more of a national and even a global organization," Willis says. Although her health law practice currently includes working with clients to help structure systems to support electronic medical records, which will be required by law in 2015, Willis spends much of her time working through reams of regulatory items that surround health care laws. "It's not just something you can dabble in," she says. "You have to be really involved in reading regulations," which can number in the hundreds of pages. "It's a different industry than the automotive industry," Willis continues, adding that the fundamentals of contracts between her two practice specialties can be wildly different. "It's something I find to be both challenging and interesting at the same time." Her desire for challenge along with her competitive nature and background as an athlete are what Willis suspects drove her legal ambitions. Basketball was originally her primary focus, but a tear to her ACL and the subsequent surgery and rehab kept her from returning to the level she was used to playing at. She played her freshman season at Saginaw Valley State and then transitioned to the school's track team, beginning on the hurdle squad and eventually landing in the 800-meter run. It was an event which she quickly discovered suited her perfectly, and Willis earned All-American honors as one of the country's top seven competitors in the distance during her final year on the team. She was also a two-time Academic All-American and captained the squad in her senior year. Willis had hoped to train for the U.S. Olympic trials after graduating in 2003, but opted instead to take advantage of a scholarship from Michigan State's College of Law. She still logs between five and six miles during weekend long runs and tries to squeeze a few extra miles in during the week. "It's really addicting after a while," Willis says of running. Published: Wed, Apr 7, 2010

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