Ursula Haverkamp
Founding partner
Ursula answers the board’s hardest questions in writing, and sits beside physicians through hearings.
Licensed professionals, Arlington, Virginia
“A license takes years to earn and one unanswered letter to put at risk.”
The letter usually arrives on an ordinary Tuesday. It is polite, it is two pages long, and it gives you a few weeks to explain yourself to the people who decide whether you can keep working.
Most of the professionals who call us are good at their work and have never written to a board before. They want to explain, and they want it over. That instinct is human, and it is how many files are made worse. What you write first becomes the record, and the record is what everyone reads afterward.
So we ask for one thing: send us the letter before you answer it. We read it with you, say what the board is actually asking, and help you decide what to say, what to hold, and who else should hear about it first.
Ursula Haverkamp
Founding partner, Haverkamp Rennick
Before you reply
Five things we ask you not to do
None of these is a crime and all of them are common. Each one has made a manageable file harder to manage.
- Call the investigator to explain. Anything you say is noted, and it is easier to add to a record than to take something out of it.
- Change or add to a chart, a file or a log, even to correct a mistake. Tell us, and we will show you the right way to correct it.
- Talk it over with colleagues, who may be asked about that conversation later.
- Post about it anywhere, including in a private group.
- Treat a deadline as flexible because the letter seems minor.
If you have already done one of these, tell us anyway. We would rather hear it from you on the first call than from the board in the third letter.
The firm
Facts about the firm
- Founded
- 2019In Arlington, Virginia
- Courts and hearings
- State circuit courts and the court of appealsAppeals from board ordersU.S. District Court, Eastern District of VirginiaAdministrative hearingsBefore licensing boards and agencies
- Jurisdictions
- VirginiaBar admissionDistrict of ColumbiaBar admissionMarylandBar admission
- Professions represented
- Nurses and physiciansTeachersReal-estate agents and brokers
The lawyers
Two partners and an associate
Every file has a partner on it from the first call. The three of us read each new letter together on the day it comes in.
Zelda Rennick
Partner
Zelda was a nurse before she was a lawyer. She reads a chart the way the board’s nurse reviewer does.
Tabitha Sutter
Associate
Tabitha takes teachers and real-estate licensees from first letter to final order, and keeps every file moving.