Jim Watson’s work on a pair of complex affiliations for his employer has caught the eyes of his peers in Orange County’s legal community.
The deputy general counsel for Irvine-based St. Joseph Health was one of five winners at the Business Journal’s sixth annual General Counsel Awards on Nov. 19 at the Hotel Irvine. He won in the Rising Star category (see related stories on pages 1, 4, 6 and 8).
Watson—assisted by his team of seven attorneys, as well as paralegals and administrative assistants—has wide-ranging duties for St. Joseph, a $5.6 billion Catholic health enterprise with 25,000 employees companywide.
One of his biggest responsibilities is directing the handling of many of the legal questions related to St. Joseph’s previously announced plans to create a large healthcare entity with Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services—a deal that would give the combined entity a presence on much of the West Coast and parts of Texas.
The affiliation would create an overarching company that would integrate St. Joseph and Providence under its umbrella.
Watson said last week that he and his “small but mighty” team were completing and preparing to submit the St. Joseph-Providence affiliation application to California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office. The attorney general’s approval is required for the transactions because St. Joseph and Providence are nonprofits.
‘Front Burner’
“We hope to file shortly—that’s on everyone’s front burner,” Watson said. “Initially, I was responsible for the due diligence on the Providence combination. That was a very aggressive time frame … We were trying to complete due diligence within a number of weeks. That was summer, and now that we’ve moved past the initial phase of due diligence, it’s assisting in the negotiation of the definitive agreement and also [securing] all the initial internal and external approvals.”
Now it’s up to Harris’ office to take the next step on the affiliation, which would keep the deal on track to close sometime early next year.
“As you would expect, there’s a healthy dialogue with the attorney general’s office,” he said. “We’ve been in conversation for quite some time.”
Watson is no stranger to tackling the legal end of affiliations. He also participated in St. Joseph Health’s 2012 pairing with Newport Beach-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, which resulted in what is now known as St. Joseph Hoag Health.
Such affiliations have swept the hospital sector in recent years, giving in-house lawyers plenty to do in addition to their standard duties.
“The biggest challenge was being able to balance between this very significant transaction and also making sure that the service provided to our ministries remained a top priority for us, as well,” Watson said.
Female Influence
Watson joined the hospital operator 20 years ago as an administrative assistant and has served in his current position for five years. He holds degrees from Hofstra University and Loyola Law School, which he attended while working full time.
He credits Susan Whittaker, an attorney and vice president of legal services at what was then known as St. Joseph Health System, as a key influence on his career, starting when she hired him as an administrative assistant.
“I went from an administrative assistant to a law clerk to corporate counsel, and just kept accepting invitations as more opportunity continued to present itself—that’s kind of how it’s gone,” Watson said.
In nominating him for the honor, Lori Bowman, a shareholder with L.A.-based Ogletree Deakins, said Watson was “instrumental in managing the legal issues involved in the Hoag affiliation and now, the Providence affiliation.”
Bowman added that, “Jim is known for his astute ability to partner with executives and to assist them on business and strategic issues.”
“My life story is really about women,” Watson remarked while accepting the General Counsel Award.
He mentioned Bowman, as well as fellow nominee Shannon Dwyer, who is St. Joseph Health System’s general counsel; Whittaker; his mother Sandy; his wife Debbie; and the couple’s four daughters.
