Margaret Surowka

Margaret co-leads Barclay Damon’s Health Care and Health & Human Services Providers Teams. A former general counsel at the New York State Dental Association, she has more than 30 years of legal experience spanning health care and labor and employment matters. Her health care practice includes advising agencies, facilities and individual providers on compliance, licensure and ethics issues, and representing them in disciplinary proceedings.

Margaret regularly counsels clients responding to Medicaid, Medicare and other government investigations and audits. She assists health care clients with compliance programs, employment and contract matters, and has represented health care entities in connection with significant disclosures to federal and state authorities. Her disciplinary work includes defending clients facing license revocation and representing them before the Office of Professional Medical Conduct and the Office of Professional Discipline. She has also defended daycare centers in proceedings brought by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.

Drawing on decades of labor and employment experience, Margaret advises employers on employment compliance and defends them before the New York State Division of Human Rights. She has conducted internal investigations involving sexual harassment allegations, discrimination complaints, and diversity and equity initiatives. She also trains governing boards on not-for-profit law and governance issues.

• Represented numerous health care providers in OMIG audits and achieved termination and other successful audit results.
• Represented and advised clients undergoing OMIG compliance-effectiveness reviews.
• Represented health care professionals before state regulatory agencies and federal agencies with respect to licensure and Medicaid participation.
• Represented health care professionals with substance-use disorders in disciplinary, certification, and insurance matters.
• Represented and defended a restaurant owner in a NYS Department of Labor audit.
• Successfully defended a physician in a revocation proceeding and subsequent appeal by the medical board.
• Served as counsel in a trial in which the NYS Department of Health (DOH) and the NYS Office for People With Development Disabilities (OPWDD) were found responsible for funding the reasonable actual costs of administrative overhead in providing services under Medicaid.
• Conducted a sexual harassment investigation involving claims against a CEO.
• Conducted internal investigations relating to discrimination and diversity and equity.
• Trained and advised board of directors in not-for-profit law duties and obligations.
• Handled an internal sexual harassment and hostile work environment investigation for a not-for-profit agency and provided training on sexual harassment prevention.
• Conducted an internal investigation of an agency's policies and procedures in handling discrimination allegations and diversity, equity, and inclusion issues at the behest of the CEO. An investigation and review were conducted and a summary was given to the CEO recommending new policies and procedures to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

• Albany Law School, JD, Cum Laude; Albany Law Review, Executive Editor for Production
• Hamilton College, BA

Admitted to Practice

• New York

Court Admissions

• US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• US District Court for the Northern District of New York
• US District Court for the Southern District of New York
• US District Court for the Western District of New York
• US Supreme Court

• Barclay Damon’s Women’s Forum
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy
• National Society of Dental Practitioners, Board of Directors Member
• Capital District Women’s Bar Association, Former President
• New York State Bar Association, Commercial & Federal Litigation, Health Law, and Corporate Counsel Sections
• Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, Former Legislative Committee Co-Chair

• The Capitol Pressroom, "Understanding New York's Medicaid Exclusion List"
• Medical Economics, "Physician Discipline in the New Age of Telehealth"
• Medical Liability Monitor, "Physicians With Multiple State Licenses Face Complex Disciplinary Risks"
• NYSBA Health Law Journal, “Nurse Practitioner Practice in New York State”
• Bulletin for Ninth District Dental Society, “A Guide to Avoiding OPD”
• New York State Dental Journal, “Prescription for Passing Inspection”; “New York Setting the Standard for Responsible Dentistry”
• MGMA New York New York Beat, “COVID-19 Workplace Updates: Vaccinations and Safety Rule”