CAP Speakers Bureau

Gwen C. Spence, MBA, is CAP’s Assistant Vice President of Membership Services. She works with independent physicians and medical groups on coverage inquiries, practice and employee issues, and financial questions. She also oversees CAP’s Residents Program and The Successful Physician Program to educate residents and physicians about topics including patient safety, quality care, and patient experience.

Ms. Spence worked in the insurance industry for a great deal of her career before joining CAP in 2010 as an underwriter. She began working with the Membership Services department in 2017. Ms. Spence received a BA in Anthropology and a BA in Ethnic Studies from California State University, Fullerton, and then went on to earn an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Specializing in arbitration agreement enforcement and appellate advocacy, Denise H. Greer is an accomplished trial attorney that has successfully tried and arbitrated cases on behalf of CAP members. 

Before her admission to the State Bar, Ms. Greer served as an operating room nurse in various units at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. For nearly eight years, she was instrumental in initiating and operating the Outpatient Surgery Center at Cedars and was the Lead Operating Room Nurse of the Gynecologic/Oncology Service. While at Cedars, Greer served as a member, and later as Head of the Operating Room Quality Assurance Committee.

A graduate of the University of the State of New York in Albany with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing, Ms. Greer attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, earning her law degree in 1988. While at Southwestern, she gained recognition as a candidate for the Paul Wildman Scholarship, was a Dean’s Merit Scholarship recipient, and received the American Jurisprudence Award for Excellence in Sales.
 

With a dual background in nursing and law, Margaret Cahill joined CAP as a claims specialist in 2003 and joined Schmid & Voiles in early 2009. Prior to CAP, her law practice from 1988 through 1993 included medical malpractice defense of hospitals and other personal-injury claims while employed by Madory, Booth, Zell & Pleiss. This was followed by 10 years in private practice at the Law Offices of Hardiman & Cahill, where she and her physician partner handled all aspects of medical malpractice and healthcare litigation, including defense of medical and nursing administrative actions. Ms. Cahill’s career includes federal court practice which resulted in several published and unpublished opinions after successful argument to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and the state appellate courts.

Ms. Cahill earned her law degree in 1988 from Western State University’s College of Law, where she graduated in the top 20 percent of her class and earned several honors, including American Jurisprudence Awards in Criminal Law and Contract Law, as well as academic recognition on the Dean’s List. She received a bachelor’s degree in Laws from Western State University and had earlier received an associate of Applied Science degree in Nursing from Youngstown State University in 1979. She received National Honor Scores on her State Board exams. While attending law school, Ms. Cahill was employed as a registered nurse at the UC Irvine Medical Center and also was employed on a part-time basis handling medical malpractice claims for a private company.

Since joining Schmid & Voiles in 1990, Deborah Taggart has become one of the firm’s most accomplished trial attorneys and has served as an arbitrator in binding arbitrations involving medical malpractice litigation. She joined the staff with 10 years of broad-based litigation expertise in both trials and arbitrations. From 1984 to 1990, Ms. Taggart represented healthcare providers while serving as a litigation associate with the law firm of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges. She gained expertise in defending medical malpractice actions in both binding arbitrations and at jury trials.

Ms. Taggart received her Juris Doctorate with academic honors from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles. While attending Loyola, she participated in the Honor Society Speakers Program and Tutorial Project. Taggart’s undergraduate studies were completed at UCLA, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Cum Laude, with a French minor. Before receiving her undergraduate degree, Ms. Taggart attended the Sorbonne at the University of Paris, where she studied French literature and art history.
 

Lawrence Wong has been engaged in professional liability matters related to healthcare professionals since 1992.  He began his legal career and gained specialized knowledge and proficiency in the defense of medical malpractice actions as an Associate Attorney in the Long Beach office of O’Flaherty & Belgum. In addition to his experience as a defense attorney, Mr. Wong also practiced on the plaintiff’s bar while working with a physician/lawyer specializing in catastrophic birth injury and products liability litigation and secured multi-million dollar awards.

Mr. Wong joined Schmid & Voiles in 1997 and devoted his practice exclusively to the defense of physicians throughout California.  He is admitted to practice before the State and United States District Courts throughout California.  He has been lead trial counsel in Superior Court trials and binding arbitrations since early 2000.  Mr. Wong is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a national, by-invitation-only association of accomplished trial lawyers.  He is also a frequent lecturer on the issue of navigating medical malpractice cases before physicians at numerous Southern California Hospitals and was a keynote presenter at the annual Convention of Osteopathic Family Physicians in 2018.

Mr. Wong is a 1992 graduate of California Western School of Law in San Diego, where he was a dean’s scholarship recipient. While an undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine, he participated in the Economics Honors Program and earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics.  Mr. Wong is a Southern California native having gone to St. John’s Lutheran School and Lutheran High School of Orange County.