Dylan Nicole de Kervor

Dylan Nicole de Kervor is a Partner in PLG’s Health Care and Administrative Law & Regulatory practice groups. She is a nationally recognized civil rights and health law attorney with more than 15 years of experience advising federal agencies, shaping landmark regulations, and leading complex enforcement matters at the intersection of healthcare, equity, and civil rights compliance. She offers a rare combination of high-level federal leadership experience and deep subject-matter expertise in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Administrative Procedure Act, LGBTQI+ health protections, language access for limited English proficient populations, disability rights, and reproductive health.

Before entering private practice, Dylan served in senior roles across the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), where she helped craft national civil rights policy and oversaw some of the federal government’s most consequential enforcement initiatives. As Special Legal Counsel in the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section, she led investigations and regulatory reviews involving federal fund recipients under Title VI, Title IX, Section 1557, the Fair Housing Act, and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act. She also developed complex legal analyses on emerging constitutional and statutory issues, including nondiscrimination in gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare, and coordinated multilateral enforcement approaches with DOJ and other federal agencies on race, national origin, and environmental justice investigations.

As the Senior Advisor to the Director at HHS’s Office for Civil Rights, Dylan was responsible for advising the Director on complex legal issues related to administrative enforcement, agency rulemaking, and defensive litigation. In this capacity, she helped launch a new strategic enforcement division, which included establishing  HHS’s first language access coordinator and advancing the Olmstead enforcement unit. She supervised multidisciplinary teams, advised agency and White House leadership on regulatory and enforcement priorities, and managed high-profile rulemaking and policy initiatives across gender-affirming care, reproductive health, disability rights, and conscience and religious freedom laws. During this time, Dylan also led the 2022 Section 1557 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, laying the groundwork for one of the most robust civil rights regulations ever issued. Earlier in her federal career, she served as Team Lead for enforcement and regulatory development for the then newly passed Section 1557 statute and counseled regional HHS offices on civil rights investigations involving state Medicaid agencies and other recipients of federal funds.

Dylan’s work has earned numerous DOJ and HHS honors, including the DOJ Assistant Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award for her enforcement work on language access; DOJ’s John Dunn Award for her accomplishments in advancing LGBTQI+ rights; the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service; and the HHS OCR Director’s Executive Award for her leadership on Section 1557 policy and enforcement. Dylan has also been recognized as a “40 Under 40” LGBT Lawyer. Her scholarship includes published analysis on applying Bostock v. Clayton County across federal civil rights statutes.

Representative Experience

• Represented the United States in litigation enforcing the Title IX and the Fair Housing Act.
• Developed and contributed to amicus briefs and statements of interest submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate and district courts in landmark civil rights cases.
• Investigated claims of race, color, and national origin discrimination against recipients of federal financial assistance, including health care entities, social service agencies, state court systems, and law enforcement agencies.
• Investigated claims of race, color, national origin, sex, age, and disability discrimination against recipients of federal financial assistance, including health care entities and other health programs and activities.
• Conducted comprehensive legal and policy analysis on education civil rights issues and briefed White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Justice leadership.
• Collaborated with the Department of Justice to represent the Department of Health and Human Services in federal litigation involving Administrative Procedure Act challenges to the Department’s rulemaking and guidance.