As the trend of outpatient surgery centers grows, more hospitals and physicians are discussing joint ventures. A number of deals have been completed in the Birmingham area recently, including physician-hospital joint ventures with the Shelby Baptist One Day Surgery Center, several new surgery centers in Cullman, as well as the Symbion partnership with Birmingham Gastronenterology and the St. Vincent's Outpatient Neurosurgical Center. The aim of more fully servicing clients in the joint venture arena was one of the factors in the recent move of attorneys Jack Levy and Laura Robinson to Balch and Bingham LLP. Combining Levy and Robinson's physician practice expertise with the strong hospital practice at Balch should produce a synergy that will benefit both hospitals and physicians. "We thought this was a great opportunity," Jack Levy says. "There are more activities with physicians and hospitals potentially partnering, so we view it as an opportunity to help bring some of the parties together." According to Levy, recent partnerships have helped expand medical care in rural areas. "We've worked on joint ventures in some of the smaller communities where they haven't had outpatient centers. With physicians and hospitals working together, we've been able to build some rural outpatient facilities that have really been beneficial to those communities." Levy believes the outpatient trend will continue to grow. "Hospitals are looking for opportunities for physicians to participate," he says. Equity interest encourages physician loyalty, helps in recruiting, and according to several consultants, may beneficially affect patient care. In addition to joint venture work, both Levy and Robinson believe their new affiliation with Balch will create a number of opportunities. "We work with a large number of physicians around the state," Levy says. "There are some communities where we've worked in which Balch may not have a relationship with the local hospitals. We hope to expand in that area as well." "We have clients in Huntsville and around the state," Robinson says. "And Balch has offices in Huntsville, Montgomery and Atlanta. We hope to help coordinate the offices and expand some services in the other offices." Robinson, who has worked with Levy for twelve years, gets a great deal of satisfaction from the style of their practice. "What I really like about this," she says, "is that, within the context of complicated regulations, you almost get to be kind of an old time family lawyer. Because of working closely with physicians and their administrative staff, people come to look at you as their lawyer for all instances. Not only are we helping them set up their corporations and dealing with business situations, but often we'll hear from them regarding family or personal legal issues. Although we don't draft wills, we'll meet with clients on estate planning, trying to help them with their succession plans. While this doesn't mean we dabble in every substantive type of law, we do try to provide full service. We would be the first call a clients makes and we get them to the right person to make sure it's handled appropriately." Jack Levy grew up in Atlanta, where he attended Emory University for both his undergraduate and his law degree. After earning his LLM in taxation from New York University, he moved to Birmingham in 1977, where he has been practicing ever since. Laura Robinson grew up in Birmingham. She received her undergraduate degree from Columbia College in New York before attending law school at the University of Alabama, where she graduated summa cum laude. She was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1994.