Litigation Practitioner: Maureen O. Bryan

Maureen Bryan has been a partner at Armstrong Teasdale for 10 years, but there was a time when her dream job was practicing sports medicine. She studied the subject at the University of Arizona and imagined that she would launch a career taking care of injured athletes on the sidelines of professional sporting events. This dream was derailed by a course in Analytical and Organic Chemistry.

“This dream has had an impact on my litigation practice, which includes a significant medical-malpractice component. In defending health care providers, I am able to learn and utilize a great deal of medical information, which I find interesting and challenging,” said Bryan, who earned her law degree in 1994 from Washburn University.

Bryan’s practice areas at Armstrong Teasdale include health care litigation, privacy and data security and tort. She defends health care clients including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and doctors from medical-malpractice claims. She also is a co-leader for the firm’s Health Care and Life Sciences industry team.

Bryan has been recognized twice by Missouri Lawyers Weekly for obtaining large defense verdicts. Most recently, she worked with Timothy Gearin and David Ott, also partners at Armstrong Teasdale, to defend a hospital against a lawsuit brought by a neurosurgeon who permanently injured his shoulder in a slip-and-fall accident, ending his career. The 2013 defense verdict was valued at $13 million.

Despite the accolades, Bryan cites her proudest career accomplishment as passing the bar and being sworn in as a lawyer because that enabled her to follow in her father’s footsteps. At the time he was a practicing attorney in Wichita, Kansas.

“My father is one of the greatest people I know, dedicated not only to his career but equally to his family and his community. As fathers do, he has had a huge impact on my life and being able to follow in his footsteps is one of the proudest things I have done,” she said.

Bryan’s practice has expanded into representing clients in data breaches involving the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act after clients experienced disclosures and breaches that required investigation and response.

“That has led to representing clients regarding breaches of protected health information on a larger scale, including disclosures of information of thousands of patients’ records and information through data and cyber compromise,” she said.

“Breaches of individuals’ private information is something we hear about frequently now.” she said. “Through the work I am doing, I am helping to ensure the security of protected health information and ensure an appropriate response is taken when they occur.”

Bryan is a volunteer for the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy for Down syndrome, which meets the sports needs of children and young adults with Down syndrome. She serves as a board member for the Criminal Justice Ministry, which offers reentry programs and housing services to those affected by the criminal-justice system.

She also is active in Christ the King parish, particularly the Home and School Association, the Board of Education and the school’s No Place for Hate Committee.