Email Merrill | 734-272-7071 | V-Card
*Affiliated with Coppersmith Brockelman PLC on designated matters; admitted in Michigan
Merrill supports Coppersmith Brockelman’s health care practice, including clinical research and other regulatory areas.
Merrill focuses her practice on contract negotiation, with an emphasis on clinical trial agreements and related data use, and data processing agreements. She also performs research and analysis of complex laws and regulations, including laws governing data privacy, genetic privacy, and human research protections. Representative clients include health systems, hospitals, physician groups, and laboratories throughout the U.S.
Throughout her career, Merrill has provided legal memoranda and counsel, trial and appellate briefs, and contract review across a range of subject matter areas. She has drafted statutory and regulatory language, court rules, and over 100 orders and opinions for Michigan appellate courts. In addition, Merrill has a background in legal ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorney advertising, having advised hundreds of law firms and professional writers on legal content creation for public audiences.
Before entering private practice, Merrill was a career judicial clerk with the State of Michigan Supreme Court.
Representative Matters
- Negotiated contracts, including clinical research agreements, indemnification agreements, data use agreements and data processing agreements on behalf of health care providers.
- Analyzed state, federal and international laws governing the privacy of genetic and other health information.
- Advised state agency, and drafted proposed state legislation, on appropriate licensing of immigrant health care practitioners based on multi-jurisdictional analysis of laws, regulations, agency practices, and industry standards.
- Advised state agency and judiciary on licensing of immigrant attorneys based on multi-jurisdictional analysis of laws, court rules, and state bar regulations.
Publications & Presentations
- Co-author, “Reflections on Freedom and Criminal Responsibility in Late Twentieth Century American Legal Thought,” with Thomas A. Green, Am. J. Legal Hist. 55, no. 1 (2015): 1-33.
Clerkship & Internship
- Judicial law clerk for the Honorable Maura D. Corrigan, Justice, State of Michigan Supreme Court (2005 – 2011)
- Judicial intern for the Honorable Steven D. Pepe, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (2002)
Education & Bar Admissions
- J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 2004
- B.A., Albion College, 1996
- Admitted in Michigan (2004)