Hagens Berman is a plaintiff-focused law firm dedicated to helping whistleblowers, consumers, investors, inventors, workers and others take on large corporations and other wrongdoers over important issues. Hagens Berman was founded in 1993 with one purpose: to help victims with claims of fraud and negligence that adversely impact a broad group of people.
The firm grew to become a leading class action firm, handling large consumer fraud, securities fraud, antitrust and other areas of complex, multi-party litigation while always representing plaintiffs/victims.
Hagens Berman also began representing whistleblowers under the False Claims Act and over the course of two decades, has expanded its scope of whistleblower advocacy while staying true to its mission of tackling important cases that implicate the public interest. We routinely represent plaintiffs including whistleblowers, investors, consumers, inventors, workers as well as those protecting the environment, state and local governments and others.
We are one of the nation’s leading class-action law firms, and have earned an international reputation for excellence and innovation in ground-breaking litigation against large corporations, including whistleblower cases.
Our excellence stems from a commitment to each case and a willingness to put significant financial resources into working each case up to trial and through appeals. We always vigorously represent the best interests of our clients and do not cut corners. Our opponents, as well as judges and various levels of government know that Hagens Berman provides the highest level of legal advocacy, all with great professionalism and prudent judgment. These values have brought us great success for our clients.
In the firm’s plaintiff’s work, Hagens Berman has litigated against a number of high-profile companies and institutions, including Big Tobacco, GM, Toyota, Bank of America, the NCAA and Big Pharma. Hagens Berman has secured tremendous victories for its clients, going above the mark to ensure that settlements are not only fair and adequate in making plaintiffs whole, but that they are used in the most efficient and advantageous ways. In litigating cases against major players, we strive to make an impact and effect change.
What Hagens Berman can do for Whistleblowers that Most Firms Cannot
A whistleblower in any industry needs the best law firm and the best lawyers in his or her corner. A whistleblower deserves no less. Literally hundreds of lawyers and law firms advertise their skills as whistleblower attorneys. Only a small number of these firms have the deep experience and significant financial resources to effectively challenge the power brought to bear against a whistleblower by a company or an industry.
Whistleblowers are well-advised to carefully research and discuss their case with different counsel before making a decision about the best law firm to take his or her case. We believe if you speak and meet with the lawyers at Hagens Berman, you will see why our firm is best-positioned to represent you and advocate on your behalf.
A whistleblower often needs expertise across the legal spectrum of False Claims Act law, retaliation and employment law, the Dodd-Frank whistleblower programs of the SEC and CFTC, potentially IRS whistleblower implications, class-action or tort law considerations, Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory regimes. Hagens Berman has attorneys with vast experiences with each and every one of these areas of law.
First and foremost, we are litigators. As litigators on behalf of plaintiffs, we have more than two decades of experience with False Claims Act qui tam litigation, securities fraud, commodities fraud and IRS and tax fraud. We also have several attorneys who are former prosecutors, several with employment law experience and several attorneys with backgrounds in finance, including in-house accountants and a certified forensic account. Our firm also has extensive relationships with consulting firms running the gamut of technical expertise.
Unlike some smaller qui tam firms who lack the resources to take on large corporations, Hagens Berman’s size and expertise enable it to engage even the biggest companies in sustained litigation, sometimes lasting years. The firm is willing to litigate if it believes the case is strong, even in instances where the government has chosen not to intervene in the case. We have always believed in taking on big players in the face of adversity.
We are well-respected for our sound judgment and professional advocacy by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the IRS, as well as many state and local governments on whose behalf we have been hired to litigate for the past two decades.
Hagens Berman also works on a contingency-fee basis, which means that the client does not pay any fees unless there is a recovery, and then the fee comes entirely from the money paid by the defendant.
Also unlike the vast majority of whistleblower lawyers, Hagens Berman has proven expertise in the area of financial fraud, with noted experts in securities law. The firm has secured several groundbreaking securities settlements against publicly traded companies and large investment firms. When securities whistleblowers need an experienced, seasoned group of experts, Hagens Berman is often the first and last place to look.
Our firm has vast experience working with governments across the spectrum of health care fraud and financial wrongdoing. We have also prosecuted whistleblower cases on behalf of states and municipalities who have suffered losses as a result of fraud. These working relationships we have built over the years bolster our credibility when presenting whistleblower cases to government agencies, including state attorney general offices, making our firm an ideal choice when whistleblowers choose to speak out.
Our firm’s recent victories in the whistleblower arena include settlements on behalf of two separate whistleblowers challenging Bank of America’s unlawful mortgage practices, leading to the historic $1 billion settlement in conjunction with the Department of Justice, recovery of several million dollars (in a set of cases declined by the government) against large hospitals engaged in Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and recovery against pharma giant, Amgen, for its unlawful activity surrounding its drug products.
The firm also has proven experience in off-label marketing cases, making it a reliable partner for qui tam whistleblower cases.
Our firm has several dozen whistleblower matters currently under seal or otherwise confidentially being investigated by the Department of Justice, several state attorneys general offices, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. These cases involve some of the largest corporations in the world.
The scope of our whistleblower practice is truly global. Hagens Berman is one of only a handful of whistleblower law practices with a true national presence and international footprint. We have flourished through our network of nine offices in cities across the United States, including Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco. An attorney with experience in representing whistleblowers is located in each of these offices. We have cases filed from nearly every part of the country and have vast experience appreciating the different considerations relevant to different parts of the country. We also represent whistleblowers from Asia, Europe, India and other locations globally.
