WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 2, 2020 – Washingtonian magazine has named two Phillips & Cohen LLP partners – Erika Kelton and Peter Chatfield – to its 2020 list of “Top Lawyers” for their work representing whistleblowers.
Kelton and Chatfield have had significant success representing whistleblowers, winning large settlements and securing substantial rewards for their whistleblower clients. They also have a record of advocating policies to improve whistleblower rights and protections.
Both whistleblower attorneys have been regularly named to Washingtonian’s “Top Lawyers” list for many years.
Kelton is an internationally recognized whistleblower lawyer who won one of the largest whistleblower awards from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for an international client. She has to date won six SEC whistleblower awards – including one for an international whistleblower that is among the largest SEC awards to date – and one CFTC whistleblower award for her clients.
She also represented whistleblowers in record-breaking False Claims Act cases, including two that yielded the largest healthcare fraud settlements ever (GlaxoSmithKline, $3 billion, and Pfizer, $2.3 billion).
Chatfield‘s successful qui tam cases include one against HCA, the nation’s largest healthcare provider, which settled for $881 million, and a case against Adventist Health System that alleged Stark Law violations settled for $118.7 million.
Chatfield was featured in an episode of the CBS program Whistleblower, which told the story of his whistleblower client in the qui tam case against pharmaceutical manufacturer Cephalon. The whistleblower lawsuit alleged off-label marketing of a dangerous opioid product and other prescription drugs. Cephalon paid $425 million to settle that whistleblower lawsuit and others as well as related criminal charges.
Washingtonian bases its “Top Lawyers” list on a survey of nearly 1,000 DC-area attorneys for input on who “they consider best among their peers.” Washingtonian then undertakes additional research and reporting to put together the final list.
ABOUT PHILLIPS & COHEN LLP
Phillips & Cohen is the most successful law firm representing whistleblowers, with recoveries from our cases totaling over $12.3 billion. We have been recognized for our work by numerous national awards. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and other news media have featured many stories about our cases and our attorneys. Phillips & Cohen’s roster includes former federal prosecutors, the first head of the SEC Office of the Whistleblower, a former deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the author of a leading treatise on the False Claims Act and attorneys with decades of experience representing whistleblowers.