News

05.08.2025

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce that Healthcare partner Linas Grikis has joined the firm in Chicago. Grikis was most recently a shareholder at Polsinelli.

A trusted advisor to large hospitals, community health systems, academic medical centers (AMCs), private equity and specialty providers, Grikis serves as lead counsel in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, member substitution transactions, joint ventures, value-based care transactions and other strategic transactions. As the healthcare industry continues to face an uncertain economic and regulatory landscape, hospitals, health systems and AMCs turn to Grikis to create affiliations, joint ventures and other strategic partnerships that help community health systems drive efficiencies while continuing to deliver quality patient care. These innovative strategies often can make the difference for survival of community health systems and rural hospitals, while allowing large hospitals and AMCs to focus on core strengths and grow their market-facing offerings.

“Linas’ deep understanding of the healthcare industry and its evolving challenges makes him a go-to advisor for hospitals and health systems across the country,” said Luca Salvi, chair of Sheppard Mullin. “Linas has a long track record of structuring innovative transactions that solve various challenges community health systems face so they can continue providing high quality care to patients and communities.”

“Linas brings decades of experience working hand-in-hand with nonprofit hospitals and health systems in executing their strategic objectives,” said Amanda Zablocki, co-leader of Sheppard Mullin’s Healthcare Industry team. “Our team prides itself on our ability to help our clients navigate a challenging, dynamic and incredibly complex legal and regulatory landscape. Linas’ transactional experience and regulatory knowledge in the hospital space nicely complements and adds depth to our team. We are thrilled to welcome him to the firm.”

Grikis has led affiliations for several regional community hospitals with multi-billion dollar healthcare systems; represented a large AMC in acquiring a hospital out of bankruptcy in order to preserve healthcare in the community; and guided a nationally recognized not-for-profit healthcare system in connection with its affiliation with a regional hospital.

He also has extensive experience negotiating other commercial agreements for institutional healthcare providers in high-impact deals that require deep knowledge of regulatory risk, business strategy and operational execution.

“At the end of the day it’s about maintaining community healthcare while expanding scale and adding clinical expertise,” Grikis said. “My practice aligns with Sheppard Mullin’s work in the healthcare industry, and my clients will benefit from the full-service, in-depth platform here as we help them solve their most pressing issues. I’m very excited to be joining the firm. I know I am plugging into something great here.”

Sheppard Mullin is a nationwide leader in helping hospitals, health systems and AMCs structure strategic affiliations, large-scale joint ventures and significant acquisitions that increase efficiency, reduce cost, expand access to care and improve patient outcomes. Recent noteworthy transactions, which earned the firm its fourth recognition as Health Care Practice Group of the Year by Law360, include:

• Helped the Regents of the University of California, the largest AMC system in California, implement a massive growth strategy through a series of acquisitions that added a total of nearly 2,000 new beds (a roughly 35% increase systemwide) to its hospitals. This included the University of California, Irvine Health’s nearly $1 billion acquisition of four hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corporation, creating one of the largest health systems in Orange County;
• Represented Prospect Health System in its agreement to sell certain of its businesses and assets, including a fully accredited acute care hospital with 177 licensed beds, to Astrana Health for $745 million to create a national healthcare delivery platform that will provide patient-centered care to a combined 1.7 million members across the country;
• Guided two of the nation’s largest and most respected AMCs in making groundbreaking realignments to turn around underperforming business lines by reducing duplicative administrative functions, improving revenue cycle management at lower costs and boosting clinical productivity; and
• Represented Duke University and Duke University Health Systemin the acquisition and integration of the Private Diagnostic Clinic, as well as in its partnership with WakeMed Health to create joint operating agreements for the collaboration of both Cancer Care Plus+ and Heart Care Plus+.

With more than 230 attorneys nationwide, Sheppard Mullin is one of the most diversified Healthcare law practices in the country, representing all segments of the industry. Grikis joins several recent hires across Sheppard Mullin’s healthcare team, including fellow Chicago partners Doug Swill, Megan Rooney, Michael Wilson, Adam Marks and Thomas DeSplinter.

Grikis received his B.A. from the University of Kansas, his J.D. from the University of Tulsa College of Law, with honors, and his LL.M. in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

About Sheppard Mullin’s Healthcare Team
Sheppard Mullin’s 230-attorney, national Healthcare industry team has been named a Healthcare Practice Group of the Year by Law360 four times in seven years. Working in all sectors of healthcare with industry-leading and growing companies, disruptive start-up clients and healthcare-focused investors, Sheppard Mullin is a go-to firm for innovative transactions and joint ventures, regulatory solutions, population health management, global risk and value-based contracting, technology transactions and privacy matters. The team offers significant experience in cybersecurity, tax, non-profit, employment and labor, real estate, artificial intelligence, antitrust, litigation and finance.