False Claims Act: Enforcement and Compliance Issues Explored

Laura Laemmle-Weidenfeld is a partner at Patton Boggs LLP in Washington, DC. During her seven years at Patton Boggs, she has defended clients in various industries against government investigations and litigation, with a particular emphasis on those matters brought under the qui tam provisions of the civil False Claims Act. She also counsels clients on health care fraud and abuse compliance issues, particularly those relating to the Antikickback Statute, Stark Laws, and False Claims Act. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Ms. Weidenfeld served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Fraud Section, where she focused exclusively on prosecuting matters under the civil False Claims Act. Ms. Weidenfeld currently serves as a Vice Chair in the AHLA Fraud & Compliance Practice Group. She frequently writes and speaks about fraud and abuse issues and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee.

Andrew W. Schilling, a partner at BuckleySandler LLP, leads the New York office’s government enforcement practice. Mr. Schilling represents entities and individuals facing government enforcement actions and complex civil litigation, and his practice includes the defense of False Claims Act matters, white-collar criminal matters, and internal investigations. Prior to joining BuckleySandler, Mr. Schilling served as Chief of the Civil Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In that role, he established that office’s Civil Frauds Unit, which investigates and prosecutes complex financial fraud cases, including health care fraud and mortgage fraud cases, and directly supervised several nationally significant financial fraud lawsuits against major financial institutions. Mr. Schilling received his J.D. from Fordham University and his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross.

Douglas W. Baruch, a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, leads the Firm’s False Claims Act and Qui Tam practice group. Mr. Baruch represents corporations and individuals in a variety of complex civil and criminal litigation matters, with an emphasis on cases arising under the False Claims Act, particularly financial industry, health care, defense procurement and federal grant fraud and enforcement matters. Mr. Baruch is a co-author of FraudMail Alert®, which regularly reports on significant developments in the False Claims Act arena. He also writes and lectures extensively on various aspects of the False Claims Act. Mr. Baruch received his JD from Georgetown University Law and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and numerous other Federal and state courts.

David Stone is the Managing partner of Stone and Magnanini and heads up its False Claims Act practice. Previously, Mr. Stone served as Managing partner of the New Jersey Office of Boies Schiller and Flexner and headed up that firm’s False Claims Act practice area. Mr. Stone has been practicing whistleblower law for over 20 years and has assisted the government in recovering over 1 billion dollars in cases in which his clients have been involved. Mr. Stone also serves on the Advisory Board of Taxpayers Against Fraud and has taught complex litigation as an adjunct professor at Seton Hall and has represented Whistleblowers in both FDA hearings and congressional investigations. Mr. Stone has lectured widely on the subjects of False Claims Act Law and complex commercial litigation.

Jim (James S.) Thiel is Chief Legal Counsel of the State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Mr. Thiel has over 39 years experience as General Counsel for WisDOT dealing with all highway, airport, port, rail, transit, state patrol, motor vehicle and driver licensing issues. He currently Chairs the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [AASHTO] and has been appointed the 2012-2015 Chair of the Legal Resources Group of the National Academies Transportation Research Board [TRB]. He also served as Chair of the Transportation Legal Research Project Panel for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program [NCHRP]. He has written extensively and presented on the Federal False Claim Act and State False Claims Acts. Jim received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.