1. Home
  2. |Professionals
  3. |Lauren R. Nunez

Lauren R. Nunez

Partner
Partner
bG51bmV6QGNyb3dlbGwuY29t
VCard
VCard

Areas of Focus

Overview

Lauren R. Nunez is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office, where she is a member of the firm’s Health Care Group. Her practice covers a wide range of litigation and counseling engagements, including representing leading managed care organizations, health benefit plans, health care providers, government contractors, and various other corporate commercial litigants. Lauren litigates complex matters in federal, state, and arbitral forums, with a particular focus on commercial health care disputes, class actions, civil antitrust, and False Claims Act suits. Lauren’s antitrust experience includes mergers and acquisitions and civil antitrust cases. She has represented clients in investigations before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor, and various state enforcement agencies.

Lauren maintains an active pro bono practice in which she litigates education access cases on behalf of parents of children with special needs and practices complex appellate litigation under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Lauren worked as an associate at a firm in Boston, where she practiced in complex commercial litigation and health care fraud investigations. Before that, Lauren interned for the Honorable Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Honorable William Q. Hayes on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego.

During law school, Lauren was the executive notes editor of the Notre Dame Law Review. 

Career & Education

    • University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D., summa cum laude, 2013
    • Providence College, B.A., summa cum laude, 2010
    • University of Notre Dame Law School, J.D., summa cum laude, 2013
    • Providence College, B.A., summa cum laude, 2010

    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
    • District of Columbia
    • Massachusetts
    • U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

  • Professional Activities and Memberships

    • American Health Lawyers Association

    Professional Activities and Memberships

    • American Health Lawyers Association

Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.16.25

Trump Administration Pauses Enforcement of the MHPAEA Final Rule

The Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Treasury (the “Tri-Agencies”) have signaled that changes may be coming to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Final Rule issued on September 8, 2024. On May 9, 2025, the Tri-Agencies filed a Motion for Abeyance in a lawsuit brought by the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) challenging the 2024 final MHPAEA regulations in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.[1] The Motion, which was granted by the Court, indicated that the Tri-Agencies intend to “reconsider” the Final Rule, including “whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking rescinding or modifying the Final Rule.” Yesterday, on May 15, 2025, the Tri-Agencies issued a notice of non-enforcement stating that they “will not enforce the 2024 Final Rule or otherwise pursue enforcement actions, based on a failure to comply that occurs prior to a final decision in the litigation, plus an additional 18 months.”...

View All Insights

Representative Matters

  • Trying case behalf of leading health services company to defense verdict in $150 million action involving fraud and breach of contract claims related to the design, build, and operation of a health plan.
  • Defending managed behavioral health care organization in response to a joint state and federal investigation of compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act for both fully-insured and self-funded plans. 
  • Representing a health system in an FTC investigation. 
  • Representing multiple health plans in complex commercial disputes with pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies regarding pharmaceutical reimbursement. 
  • Defending leading health plan in multiple class actions in federal court concerning compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
  • Defending a large health insurer in multiple arbitration proceedings across the nation involving a Medicare Advantage dispute.
  • Representing a Medicaid managed care organization in complex litigation with a state concerning actuarial soundness of capitation rates, government contracting, and related performance and transition of care issues.
  • Defending a leading health plan in arbitration against a major hospital system in Florida regarding payment of behavioral health claims.

Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.16.25

Trump Administration Pauses Enforcement of the MHPAEA Final Rule

The Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Treasury (the “Tri-Agencies”) have signaled that changes may be coming to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Final Rule issued on September 8, 2024. On May 9, 2025, the Tri-Agencies filed a Motion for Abeyance in a lawsuit brought by the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) challenging the 2024 final MHPAEA regulations in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.[1] The Motion, which was granted by the Court, indicated that the Tri-Agencies intend to “reconsider” the Final Rule, including “whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking rescinding or modifying the Final Rule.” Yesterday, on May 15, 2025, the Tri-Agencies issued a notice of non-enforcement stating that they “will not enforce the 2024 Final Rule or otherwise pursue enforcement actions, based on a failure to comply that occurs prior to a final decision in the litigation, plus an additional 18 months.”...

View All Insights

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.16.25

Trump Administration Pauses Enforcement of the MHPAEA Final Rule

Client Alert | 4 min read | 01.23.25

Tri-Agencies Release Third Mental Health Parity Report to Congress

Publication | 12.23.24

Tri-Agencies Finalize NQTL Comparative Analysis Standards In Final Rule

Client Alert | 12 min read | 09.13.24

Tri-Agencies Finalize NQTL Comparative Analysis Standards in Final Rule

View All Insights

Practices

Lauren's Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.16.25

Trump Administration Pauses Enforcement of the MHPAEA Final Rule

The Departments of Labor (“DOL”), Health and Human Services (“HHS”), and Treasury (the “Tri-Agencies”) have signaled that changes may be coming to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (“MHPAEA”) Final Rule issued on September 8, 2024. On May 9, 2025, the Tri-Agencies filed a Motion for Abeyance in a lawsuit brought by the ERISA Industry Committee (“ERIC”) challenging the 2024 final MHPAEA regulations in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.[1] The Motion, which was granted by the Court, indicated that the Tri-Agencies intend to “reconsider” the Final Rule, including “whether to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking rescinding or modifying the Final Rule.” Yesterday, on May 15, 2025, the Tri-Agencies issued a notice of non-enforcement stating that they “will not enforce the 2024 Final Rule or otherwise pursue enforcement actions, based on a failure to comply that occurs prior to a final decision in the litigation, plus an additional 18 months.”...

View All Insights