Am Law’s Litigation Daily, the Raleigh News & Observer, and Raleigh TV news station WTVD ABC 11 covered a significant litigation victory for a McGuireWoods team fighting to preserve critical funding for 21 autistic children in North Carolina.
On behalf of the children and their families, McGuireWoods is challenging a 10% cut in North Carolina’s Medicaid reimbursement rates for applied behavior analysis therapy, arguing that the cuts are unconstitutional and discriminatory. Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins issued an order Nov. 4, 2025, to temporarily block the cuts pending a full hearing. The McGuireWoods team includes partners Michael F. Easley Jr., Jonathan Y. Ellis and Ryan Park; and associates H. Brent McKnight, Jr. and Hannah K. Caison.
“We were able to bring a lot of brilliant legal talent to represent . . . autistic toddlers who otherwise wouldn’t have had a voice,” Easley said in the News & Observer’s Nov. 5., 2025, story.
The judge concluded that “the balance of equities greatly favored the patients who need this critical care,” Easley added.
In an interview with Raleigh’s ABC 11, Easley said: “Every month that those kids don’t receive that care is a month that these patterns and habits associated with their autism begin to calcify and can result in them not being able to speak or interact in a way that can allow them to be self-sufficient and productive members of society.”
Am Law’s Litigation Daily also singled out the McGuireWoods team’s achievement in its Nov. 7, 2025 “Litigators of the Week” column.