"Mary Okeiyi Ekpu is an attorney, registered nurse, and legal operations professional whose career sits at the intersection of law, healthcare, business, and innovation. She brings a multidisciplinary perspective shaped by experience in healthcare, legal practice, client operations, and legal project management, with a particular interest in improving how legal services are delivered.

Outside of work, Mary enjoys traveling, exploring new restaurants and cultures, staying active, and spending time with family and friends. She is passionate about mentorship, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and creating opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds. She also has a strong interest in real estate, emerging technology, and the evolving role of AI in the legal profession.

A fun fact about Mary: before building her career in law, she worked as a registered nurse, giving her the opportunity to advocate for people from both the bedside and the legal and business sides of healthcare.

Ideal Client Profile

- Healthcare organizations and healthcare businesses seeking strategic legal, regulatory, operational, or business guidance, including physician practices, medical groups, healthcare startups, digital health companies, and other healthcare service organizations.

- Nurse-owned and clinician-owned businesses that need assistance navigating the legal and operational issues involved in launching, structuring, growing, or professionalizing a healthcare business.

- Medical aesthetics and wellness businesses, including med spas and clinician-owned practices, seeking guidance concerning business structure, contracts, compliance, risk management, operations, and growth.

- Healthcare entrepreneurs and founders who need help identifying and coordinating the legal, regulatory, operational, and business considerations associated with bringing a healthcare product or service to market.

- Law firms and legal departments seeking legal operations or legal project management expertise, particularly around matter management, budgeting, scoping, alternative fee arrangements, process improvement, outside-counsel management, client service, and operational efficiency.

- Organizations exploring AI and legal technology, including law firms and legal teams interested in responsible AI adoption, workflow redesign, prompt development, lawyer training, knowledge management, and improving legal-service delivery.

- Healthcare organizations facing complex operational or risk-management challenges where an understanding of both clinical environments and legal/business considerations would be valuable.

- Healthcare professionals and organizations needing sophisticated outside counsel for healthcare regulatory, transactional, compliance, employment, litigation, or other specialized matters.

When a matter falls outside my scope, I value opportunities to connect clients with trusted attorneys and other professionals who are best positioned to assist.

Great referral examples: “Our healthcare company needs to improve its contracting and compliance processes,”; “Our legal department needs someone who understands both legal operations and healthcare,” or “Our firm wants to incorporate AI into its legal workflows but needs help translating the technology into practical processes.”