Meet The Team
Rafael Antonio Ruiz-Ayala, JD, MPA, LLM in Health Law
Mr. Ruiz-Ayala, is a Member in the General Business and Corporate Law and Transactional and Regulatory Health Law practice groups, is a seasoned corporate and transactional attorney with extensive experience in the representation of domestic and international private and public sector clients, ranging from start-up companies to public instrumentalities, on a broad range of complex matters in the areas of corporate design and governance, corporate and public finance, mergers and acquisitions and insurance.
Mr. Ruiz-Ayala also brings to DUGGAN BERTSCH advanced training and expertise on the legal and regulatory frameworks governing the healthcare industry. His practice includes advising individual and institutional providers of healthcare services, suppliers of medical equipment and benefits administrators on a wide-ranging set of corporate and regulatory compliance issues particular to the health industry. Mr. Ruiz-Ayala combines those skills with his training in public administration to assess client organizational and operational patterns against current and anticipated policy trends for risk management, infrastructure development, organizational innovation and strategic planning purposes.
Mr. Ruiz-Ayala has a long history of interfacing with multi-disciplinary teams and government officials in multi-cultural and multi-linguistic environments. Before joining DUGGAN BERTSCH, Mr. Ruiz-Ayala was a capital partner at 120 attorney full-service firm headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Prior to that, he was an associate attorney at a multinational law firm headquartered in downtown Manhattan.
Mr. Ruiz-Ayala received a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in Government from Harvard University, a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School, a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Health Law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He is admitted tovthe practice of law in Illinois, New York and Puerto Rico. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA), the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys (IAHA) and the Puerto Rico Bar Association.
Publications
The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Published Timothy Liam EPSTEIN’s Article Entitled, “The plot thickens in players’ defamation suit over PEDs report.”
When a professional baseball player is accused of using performance-enhancing drugs (“PEDs,” inclusive of hormones for purposes of this article), the implications can be catastrophic.
Sports Law Group Named Among Nations Best
DUGGAN BERTSCH, LLC is proud to announce that our Sports Group has once again been recognized as one of the top Sports Law practices in the US by Hackney Publications. Click here to learn more
Contract Cancellation and Force Majeure – Know your Rights and Consider the Consequences
As the world copes with COVID-19 and the necessity of social distancing, individuals and businesses must contemplate the legal ramifications of their contracts, and what happens when those contracts cannot or are not being performed. Most contracts contain termination and remedies provisions that may be implicated given the current health crisis.
Workers’ Compensation & Remote Employees
As stay-at-home orders are being extended throughout the country, a significant population of the US workforce is and will continue to work remotely. Because employers cannot actively monitor and supervise their employees, employers are exposed to additional risks of liability. One significant risk is the potential for employees to sustain accidental injuries while working remotely. […]
Non-deductibility of Expenses Funded with PPP Loan Proceeds
Late last week, the IRS issued Notice 2020-32 which states that no deduction will be allowed for an expense that would otherwise be deductible by a small business if the payment of such expense results in forgiveness under the provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of the CARES Act, and the income associated with […]
DB Alert: CARES Act Tax Relief
As we’ve outlined in our previous Newsletters, President Trump signed into law on March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or the Act). In addition to the Paycheck Protection Program offered to businesses to further support employee retention and maintenance of the business (See March 30th, CARES Act and Paycheck […]
Alert: Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds
Summary As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), a new community and economic development program was enacted under Section 1400Z-1 & 1400Z-2 that garnered little attention at the time of passage, but which now appears to be causing high net worth investors and the investment community at large to take […]
IRS TO ALLOW MOST TAXPAYERS TO DEFER PAYING 2019 TAXES ON APRIL 15, 2020 DUE TO COVID-19
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking at a coronavirus news conference today, announced that individuals who owe taxes to the IRS can defer up to $1 million, and corporations can defer up to $10 million in payments, for a period of 90 days from the April 15th deadline. At this point, the deferral applies to the income taxes owed, and there does not appear […]
DB Alert: 2019 Payment and Filing Deadlines
As we previously alerted our clients and friends, the Internal Revenue Service has postponed the tax payment deadlines for calendar year taxpayers until July 15, 2020 provided that the amounts owed did not exceed certain levels (prior alert); however, the tax filing deadline itself was not automatically extended under this prior guidance Recent guidance just […]
All Cook County Properties to be Re-Assessed in 2020 Due to COVID-19
The Cook County Assessor’s Office recently announced updates to its assessment and appeal process in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, one-third of Cook County is reassessed in any given year, but due to the projected impact of COVID-19 on property values, the Assessor announced adjustments are planned across the entire county. To make assessments […]