When Michael Hemsley describes the evolution of his own legal career, he just as easily could be talking about the evolution of the legal profession as it applies to health care in America.

Hemsley once did such things as defend medical malpractice cases in metropolitan Philadelphia. But as the federal government drastically increased investigations and prosecutions of health care companies in the early and mid-1990s, Hemsley, like many of his peers across the country, developed an expertise in advising hospitals, doctors and others in the medical profession on how to avoid violating complex federal regulations.