Weaver Johnston & Nelson, PLLC

Focus and practice areas

Healthcare law is the core of the firm's work. The Dallas firm represents hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding emergency medical care facilities, physician groups, dentists, laboratories, and imaging centers across Texas. It also works with management service organizations and dental service organizations, the corporate structures that sit behind many medical and dental practices.

That client list spans large institutions and small provider groups. A hospital and a two-physician clinic face many of the same rules, though the scale of the paperwork differs. The firm advises across that range, which suggests the firm is comfortable with both routine filings and larger institutional questions.

The firm advises these clients on regulatory compliance. That work covers HIPAA, the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, licensing, audits, and Medicare enrollment. In my opinion, that list points to a firm built around the rules that decide how providers operate and how they get paid.

How the firm came together

Joshua Weaver and Melissa Weaver founded the firm in 2014 with a healthcare focus. In 2016, Ashley Johnston and Joseph Nelson joined, and the firm took the name Weaver Johnston & Nelson, PLLC. The website brands it as Weaver Johnston Nelson, and the full entity name keeps the ampersand.

Those two dates give the firm a history just over a decade long. It works from an office in Dallas and serves clients throughout the state. A decade of focused practice tends to build the kind of familiarity with regulators and referral rules that healthcare clients look for.

How the team is built

The attorneys page lists thirteen lawyers. Joshua Weaver, Ashley Johnston, and Joseph Nelson are the managing members. Members include Fredricka Dorroh, Charles M. Gearing, Daniel L. Tatum, Vicki Wanjura, and Paul Wehrmann. Shannon H. Cahalan holds senior counsel, Lance Metcalf is of counsel, and Michaela Ellison and Michelle Obach are associates.

Four of the attorneys are board certified in health law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization: Josh Weaver, Ashley Johnston, Joe Nelson, and Vicki Wanjura. Certification in Texas asks for a set number of years in the field, peer references, and a written examination. As a reviewer, I read that credential as a sign of real depth in health law across the firm's leadership.

A look at one member's work

Ashley Johnston's practice shows the corporate side of the firm. She advises clients on forming and reorganizing business entities, on mergers and acquisitions, on the purchase and sale of corporate stock and assets, and on physician and hospital contracts and joint ventures. That work ties the healthcare focus to everyday business transactions, the sort that shape how a medical group is owned and run.

What the compliance work involves

Healthcare compliance runs on federal and state rules that shift often. The Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law govern financial ties between providers and the entities they refer patients to. HIPAA sets the standards for handling patient information. A firm in this area helps clients build arrangements that meet those standards before a regulator asks about them.

Audits and Medicare enrollment add more work. Providers who bill federal programs face periodic review, and enrollment itself involves detailed forms and firm deadlines. A single missed step can hold up payment for months. Licensing questions reach both individual practitioners and the facilities where they practice, and the firm handles matters across all of these.

Corporate, transactional, and litigation work

Beyond healthcare, the firm handles corporate matters such as entity formation and contracts. Its transactional work covers mergers, acquisitions, asset sales, and joint ventures. The firm also practices securities law, which comes into play when a medical business raises capital or restructures ownership.

These transactions often carry a healthcare layer. Selling a surgery center or merging two physician groups means checking that the deal fits the referral and billing rules, on top of the usual contract work. A firm that knows both sides can keep those questions in the same conversation.

On the litigation side, the firm takes partnership and business disputes, fraud and whistleblower defense, and employment and non-compete disputes. Whistleblower and fraud claims carry particular weight in healthcare, where billing to federal programs draws close scrutiny. Non-compete disputes come up often when physicians move between practices.

Continuing medical education

The Texas Medical Association accredits the firm to provide continuing medical education. It offers CME programs both in person and on demand. That role puts the firm in front of the same physicians and providers it represents. The firm teaches the rules it also applies in its legal work.