WASHINGTON, DC, March 16, 2018 – Three Phillips & Cohen partners – Mary Louise Cohen, Erika A. Kelton and Colette G. Matzzie – have been named to Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America” list for 2018 for their work as whistleblower attorneys.
Lawdragon says the “Leading Lawyers” list recognizes “the 500 lawyers making the biggest mark in the law.”
“These are lawyers who inspire with their public interest leadership, their vision of the rule of law and its relationship to our lives, our economies and our governance,” Lawdragon said.
Cohen, a co-founder of Phillips & Cohen, has represented whistleblowers in numerous “qui tam” (whistleblower) lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act and has been called the “queen of qui tam.” Her cases include one against Quest Diagnostics that settled for $302 million and a qui tam lawsuit that resulted in more than 130 hospitals paying the government a total of more than $105 million. In 2013, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, a non-profit organization that supports whistleblowers and their attorneys.
Kelton has represented whistleblowers in a number of record-breaking cases. She represented the lead whistleblowers in separate qui tam cases against GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer that were a basis for the largest healthcare fraud settlements of all time – $3 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. In addition to her False Claims Act success, Kelton represented three whistleblowers who received awards through the Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower program, including one of the largest SEC whistleblower awards so far of $32 million.
Matzzie’s qui tam lawsuit against electronic health records vendor eClinicalWorks was the first time the government had held an EHR vendor responsible for failing to meet federal standards designed to ensure patient safety and quality patient care. The lawsuit, which settled for $155 million in 2017, also resulted in a strong corporate integrity agreement that will serve as a standard for future lawsuits involving EHR vendors.
For more about Phillips & Cohen’s record, see Our Top Whistleblower Cases.