Barbara Bennett , Esq., JAMS Mediator and Arbitrator

Barbara Bennett, Esq., joins JAMS with extensive experience resolving complex matters involving health care, data governance, technology (including AI), privacy, security and regulated business operations. Her background for serving as a mediator, arbitrator and neutral evaluator includes significant work navigating disputes involving corporate transactions, health and other personal information, cross-functional governance issues and data-driven business models. She also has substantial experience guiding parties through highly regulated environments where early conflict identification and structured resolution processes are essential.

Ms. Bennett’s career includes early service on the Tennessee Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, where she contributed to initiatives focused on improving court-connected dispute processes. She has worked with organizations ranging from health plans and hospital systems to behavioral health providers and laboratories, as well as companies providing data analytics and technology to regulated industries. Her experience includes leading large transactions such as M&A and service agreements, managing data breach events, counseling on cross-border privacy and data protection issues, and advising on large-scale data and AI corporate governance—all of which frequently require resolution of multifaceted disagreements among stakeholders. She has deep health care experience and has advised businesses in many other industries, such as energy, entertainment, manufacturing and education.

Her background in transactions, governance and technology (including AI) informs her approach to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and reflects an emphasis on practical decision-making, clarity in issue framing and a focus on durable outcomes. Her understanding of legal disputes and business relationships is drawn from her significant roles as both outside and in-house counsel. As a mediator, Ms. Bennett incorporates structured negotiation frameworks that support emotional clarity and early-stage risk assessment to support efficient and informed resolutions to disputes that arise in rapidly evolving operational, contractual, or regulatory settings. As an arbitrator, Ms. Bennett is thorough and curious, as well as decisive, practical, creative and efficient. She is quite comfortable working in areas where the facts and law are complex and nuanced.

Representative Matters

Business Commercial

- As an advocate, negotiated resolutions to issues arising from complex private-label and services-contract relationships involving material revenue streams for a Fortune 20 health care services company
- As an advocate, handled disputes related to internal governance, risk allocation and business continuity for companies providing IT, revenue-cycle, turnkey management and data analytics services
- As an advocate, led the resolution on both the buy and sell sides of private company M&A matters involving complicated operational liabilities, data-use rights and transition obligations
- As an advocate, successfully worked with a large energy business to develop, document and implement a corporate AI governance program, which involved resolving multiple internal issues among stakeholders
- As an advocate, participated in the arbitration of a significant contract dispute and negotiated a settlement prior to its conclusion

Cybersecurity & Privacy

- As an advocate, managed numerous data-breach incidents for publicly traded companies, coordinating forensics, legal analysis, notification issues and stakeholder communications
- As an advocate, advised multinational organizations on privacy, security and data protection laws across jurisdictions during global product development and deployment
- As an advocate, handled disputes involving possession, use and protection of corporate databases for Fortune 25 companies
- As an advocate, resolved matters involving AI governance, responsible data use and contractual obligations in technology-enabled services
- As an advocate, managed the resolution of disputes related to data protection issues for a large ongoing stream of SaaS contracts for a publicly traded entertainment industry business

Health Care

- As an advocate, advised on acquisition strategy for more than a dozen hospitals, including negotiations among nonprofit providers and financial stakeholders
- As an advocate, led negotiation and documentation of large-scale agreements for the development and operation of ambulatory cancer centers affiliated with teaching hospitals
- As an advocate, assisted in resolving disagreements between clinical service providers and technology vendors in national health care franchise operations
- As an advocate, worked with hospital systems, health plans and behavioral health entities on conflicts involving clinical operations, reimbursement structures, data-sharing obligations and other contract disputes
- As an advocate, managed the transactions and disputes with business customers for a company providing turnkey plan creation and management for medical center-based health plans

Higher Education & Title IX

- As in-house counsel, managed complex litigation, including employment, contracts and land use
- As in-house counsel, managed the process for drafting, adopting and implementing university-wide policies on technology, literary and artistic works; environmental health and safety; hate speech; sexual orientation; research misconduct; and use of consultants
- As in-house counsel, structured the transfer of technologies to the marketplace, including educational interactive software products
- As in-house counsel, procured a free-electron laser with federal funds, which involved creating a startup company for construction, cost overruns with federal audits and protection of the university’s rights upon insolvency of the company
- As in-house counsel, managed legal aspects of a limited partnership that financed and constructed a mixed-use real estate development, including subsequent dissolution of the partnership, acquisition of the project by a university and settlement of a dispute concerning defects

Life Sciences

- As an advocate, defended publicly traded business with proprietary treatment in hearings before a Washington state professional licensing commission and resolved all issues
- As an advocate, represented an international life sciences trade association in resolving all stakeholder issues associated with the creation of an informatics standards organization
- As an advocate, resolved all issues on behalf of a pharmaceutical company in a strategic alliance around a nanoparticle compound
- As an advocate, resolved all issues in the representation of a virus detection systems business in successful financings

Honors, Memberships and Professional Activities

Honors
- The Best Lawyers in America®, Artificial Intelligence, Privacy and Data Security, 2026
- Super Lawyers (Washington, D.C.), 2007–2013
  - Top 50 Women
- Life Sciences Leading Lawyer, Legal Times, 2006
- Expert Guide to Leading U.S. Health Care Lawyers, 2006
Memberships
- AI Governance Professional (AIGP) Certification, IAPP (formerly International Association of Privacy Professionals), 2024–2026
- Member, AI Task Force, Tennessee Bar Association, 2024–2026
- International Women’s Forum, 2012–2026
- Member, Board of Advisors, Rock the Street Wall Street, 2016–2018
- Member, Board of Directors, Nashville CARES, 2011–2014
- Member, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, U.S. District Court, 1991–1993
- Member, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, U.S. District Court, 1994-1995
- Member, Tennessee Bar Commission on Status of Women and Minorities in the Profession
- Member, Board of Directors, National Association of College and University Counsel, 1991–1994
Bar Admissions
- Tennessee
Selected Speaking Engagements
- “AI in Data Security & Privacy,” Lexology Masterclass Webinar Series, December 2024
- “Navigating the AI Frontier – Legal Risks and Opportunities for Corporate Counsel,” Tennessee Bar Association, October 2024
- “Doing the Right Thing: How to Use AI to Practice Law and Medicine Within Ethical Boundaries,” 37th Annual Texas Health Law Conference, October 2024
- “AI in Health Care: Harness Its Power, Manage Its Risks,” University of Kentucky Health Law Institute, September 2024.
- “AI Governance in Health Care: Focus on Data Privacy and Security,” Tennessee Bar Association, April 2024
- “Realizing the Promise and Managing the Peril of AI,” Bayou City Bio Pulse, Greater Houston Partnership, December 2023
- “AI in Health Care: Navigating Privacy Risk,” Cincinnati Bar Association, December 2023
- “How to Advise Clients on AI With Only a Law Degree,” Association of Corporate Counsel, November 2023
Selected Publications
- Co-Author, “HIPAA Final Rule Addressing Reproductive Health Requires Significant Compliance Measures by December 2024,” Westlaw Today, August 2024
- Editor-in-Chief, E-Health Business and Transactional Law (BNA), 2002 (with 2004 and 2006 supplements)
- “Application of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Employer Benefit Plans and a Compliance Theory of Statutory Interpretation,” Journal of Health Law, Spring 2004
Additional or Unique Skills
- Completed U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Appellate Mediation Training and served on Appellate Mediation Panel, 2006
- Served on the Tennessee Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution (1992–1995) as well as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee for the U.S. District Court (1994–1995)
- AI Governance Professional (AIGP) Certification, IAPP, 2024
- Experienced as both a partner in a large international law firm and as in-house counsel, including as general counsel, litigating and resolving multiple disputes

Background and Education

Partner, Frost Brown Todd, 2023–2025
Solo Practitioner, 2017–2023
Partner, Hogan Lovells, 1997–2016
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, TriPoint Health Group, 1995–1997
Associate General Counsel, Vanderbilt University, 1986–1995
Associate Litigation Attorney, Liskow and Lewis, 1984–1986
Judicial Law Clerk, Judge Thomas Wiseman, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, 1983–1984
J.D., Vanderbilt University Law School, 1983
- Order of the Coif
- Articles Editor, Vanderbilt Law Review
B.S., magna cum laude, Vanderbilt University, 1973
- Phi Beta Kappa

Barbara Bennett , Esq.

Representative Matters

Honors, Memberships and Professional Activities

Background and Education

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Atlanta, Georgia

Barbara Bennett, Esq., Joins JAMS in Atlanta

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