Dana M. Richens

Dana M. Richens is a partner in the Litigation Section of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.

Her practice is concentrated in the area of commercial litigation. In that regard, Ms. Richens represents the Firm’s domestic and international clients in civil matters in federal and state trial and appellate courts throughout the country, prosecuting and defending business-related claims for breach of contract, fraud, RICO, misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with business relations. Ms. Richens also has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures such as arbitration and mediation.

Ms. Richens’s practice encompasses a particular emphasis in the field of health care litigation. In addition to representing health care clients in general commercial litigation matters, Ms. Richens has represented health care clients who were targets of qui tam actions brought under the federal False Claims Act, and in litigation arising from alleged violations of the anti-kickback and Stark self-referral statutes. She has represented physician clients in litigation arising from peer review activities. She has represented assisted living facilities in legal challenges to rules promulgated by the then State Health Planning Agency. She also represents physicians in investigative proceedings before the Georgia Composite State Board of Medical Examiners.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Ms. Richens received her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, in Psychology in 1985 from Vanderbilt University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. degree in 1991 from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Ms. Richens is the editor of the Firm’s quarterly magazine, Trust The Leaders, and serves as the Firm’s Diversity Partner and chair of its Diversity Council.

Ms. Richens is a volunteer pianist at Wesley Woods Towers and a member of the handbell choir at the Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Atlanta.

Ms. Richens is admitted to practice in Georgia.