Kenneth M. Webster
Ken Webster
Partner
Las Vegas, NV
San Jose, CA
San Diego, CA
kwebster@hpslaw.com
702.212.1441 (direct)
408.645.6716 (alternate)
BIOGRAPHY
Ken Webster works at the forefront of healthcare litigation and consultation in both Nevada and California. His primary focus is medical malpractice defense with an emphasis on institutional clients, including acute care hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, long- term care facilities, and rehabilitation centers.
Webster also consults clients on matters such as policy formation, regulatory compliance, Joint Commission considerations and the FDA clinical trial process. His clients include healthcare facilities and clinical research organizations as well as other institutional clients.
Webster has significant experience in all phases of high-exposure medical malpractice cases and has taken several to trial as both first- and second-chair. He has extensive background in cases involving neurologic injury, birth trauma, wrongful death, dismemberment, sexual assault, decubitus ulcers and premises liability. He also has handled numerous mediations and arbitrations, and has argued before the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada as well as the Nevada Supreme Court, in addition to representing clients before regulatory and licensing boards.
Webster also has experience as a healthcare executive. In 2020, Webster returned to HPS after an 18-month terms as CEO of United Cancer Centers, an emerging Right-to-Try network of cancer clinics in the United States with a mission of providing investigational treatments to terminal cancer patients. During that time, Webster also served as CEO of CHIPSA Hospital, an immunotherapy research cancer hospital in Playas de Tijuana, Mexico. His work on the frontlines of emerging healthcare companies, both as outside counsel and as an administrator, provides him with a unique perspective on the operational needs of healthcare facilities as well as the defense of those entities in litigation.
Although not an appellate attorney, Webster performed the discovery and motion work in two significant appellate decisions in the State of Nevada. In Guardianship of L.S. & H.S., 87 P.3d 521, 120 Nev. 157 (2004), he successfully navigated the issue of parental consent for the administration of blood products despite religious objection. In Monroe v. Columbia Sunrise Hosp. and Med. Center, 158 P.3d 1008 (Nev. 2007), he successfully moved to dismiss a birth trauma case for failure to comply with a technical rule requiring the Plaintiff to get the case to trial within five years, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Webster also provides risk-management support for his clients and has spoken on numerous occasions at Grand Rounds for local hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. He works continually with his clients to help them decrease their litigation exposure through modification of their policies, practices and procedures.
Webster has been honored as one of Nevada’s Top Lawyers, and also as a Mountain States Super Lawyer in the practice area of medical malpractice litigation. He has also achieved the highest rating possible by Martindale-Hubbell’s peer-review system. Webster has served on numerous committees working to develop specific discovery practices and specialized jury instructions for medical malpractice cases in the State of Nevada.
After earning his law degree from Vermont Law School in 1999, Webster practiced at Las Vegas law firm Earley Savage for five years before joining HPS in 2004.
AREAS OF PRACTICE
CREDENTIALS
EDUCATION
Vermont Law School , J.D., Dean's Fellow (1999)
University of Utah, B.S. (1996)
BAR ADMISSIONS
Nevada
California
COURT ADMISSIONS
U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Nevada State Bar Association
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