William S. Bernstein

William S. Bernstein headshot

Partner at Manatt Health

Bill Bernstein is the chairperson of the board of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, and leader of Manatt Health, a 160-person national legal and consulting practice that combines legal excellence, firsthand experience in shaping public policy, extensive strategic and business planning expertise, and deep analytic capabilities to assist health care stakeholders in implementing their strategic and business goals.

Bill’s practice concentrates on providing strategic, business and legal advice to clients in the health care industry, including provider organizations, managed care companies, emerging companies and financial institutions. He has led engagements to create new business models for the organization and payment of health services, developed plans for the broad use of health information technology to support new care delivery systems and counseled numerous states on implementation issues resulting from health reform.

Bill serves as chairperson of the Center for Democracy and Technology, chairperson of Human Rights in China and vice chairperson of the board of Executives for Health Innovation, and he is a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Bill was named a 2021 Champion of Public Health by Public Health Solutions for his work leading the NYC COVID-19 Rapid Response Coalition, a cross-sector team of more than 75 health care leaders serving medically vulnerable New Yorkers during the COVID-19 crisis. He also was named to City & State’s 2021 Health Power 100 list, which annually recognizes leading health care professionals in New York.

Bill received his B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as a Root-Tilden Scholar and an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow. Bill began his career working as a special assistant at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and as a law clerk to the Honorable Raymond J. Pettine of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

Publications/Conferences/Websites/Affiliations

Areas of Expertise

Government and regulatory, healthcare transactions, digital health