SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, Jan. 9, 2018 – Phillips & Cohen LLP is pleased to announce that Edward H. Arens has been named a partner at the firm, which focuses exclusively on representing whistleblowers.
“Ned has made substantial contributions to the success of our firm for many years,” said Erika A. Kelton, a partner at Phillips & Cohen. “His thoughtful and rigorous approach to whistleblower cases will continue to be hugely beneficial to our clients.”
Arens brings a wealth of experience with whistleblower cases to his new position. He has played key roles in many significant whistleblower cases brought by Phillips & Cohen. These include:
- A whistleblower case against Office Depot that the company paid $68.5 million to settle. More than 1,000 cities, counties, school districts and other government entities in California received a share of the recoveries from the case, which alleged that Office Depot overcharged them for office supplies.
- A “qui tam” (whistleblower) lawsuit against defense contractor Alliant Techsystems, which settled for $37 million. The lawsuit alleged the company sold the US Air Force defective flares used to provide illumination for military operations.
- A “qui tam” case that resulted in the largest settlement of a false claims case against a Medicare Advantage plan and was one of the first involving a Medicare Advantage plan’s obligation to provide its members with adequate access to healthcare services. Freedom Health, Optimum Healthcare and their affiliates paid a total of $32.5 million to the federal government and Florida to settle the case.
Arens also handles SEC whistleblower claims – including claims relating to accounting fraud, disclosure failures, misleading financial products and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations – as well as IRS whistleblower claims.
“It’s an honor to fight on behalf of whistleblowers,” Arens said. “The fierce commitment Phillips & Cohen has to working with our clients and the government to stop corporate wrongdoing and to protecting whistleblowers makes this a very special place to practice law.”
Arens joined Phillips & Cohen after graduating magna cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He is based in the firm’s San Francisco office.
Edward H. Arens