Jennifer Bolen, JD 

Jennifer Bolen, JD, served as an Assistant US Attorney with the US Department of Justice for nearly 14 years. In 2002, Ms. Bolen founded The Legal Side of Pain® and entered into private practice in 2003 to educate health care providers on medico-legal issues on the use of controlled substances to treat pain. She also conducts practice audits and teaches providers how to perform self-audits with the intent of improving pain management documentation practices and patient relationships.  Ms. Bolen serves as expert oversight legal counsel on many board and criminal cases nationwide. She has also served as an expert witness for physicians in both board and criminal cases. She maintains one of the nation’s largest databases on expert witnesses and case-related legal materials. Currently, she is working on a study relating to ethical and legal standards relating to expert witness testimony. 

Ms. Bolen serves on several national advisory boards and committees dedicated to improving legal and regulatory educational efforts for health care providers. She currently serves as special counsel to the American Academy of Pain Medicine. In addition, Ms. Bolen is the legal editor for Pain Medicine News, and she publishes a regular column in Pain Medicine News and Anesthesiology News. She also serves on the editorial board for the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s journal, Pain Medicine and writes for several other journals and newsletters.  Ms. Bolen lives daily with chronic pain, but actively participates in family activities on her farm in Tennessee, where she and her family breed and train race and show horses. She has four children: Alex, Mary, Sergei, and Phillip.