Crowell Ramps Up Hiring Amid Expected Rise in COVID-19 Relief Investigations
While Crowell's revenue has taken a hit in 2020 and the firm cut pay for attorneys and some staff, "we are doing better than expected in this environment," said chairman Philip Inglima, who noted the firm is in growth mode.
August 03, 2020 at 06:53 AM
4 minute read
The original version of this story was published on National Law Journal
Crowell & Moring has added two partners in Washington, D.C., and is in talks with many more, amid an expected surge in investigations and litigation over the government's coronavirus relief efforts, the firm said.
Crowell's new partners, who joined in the last week, are Preston Pugh, a former federal prosecutor who was at Miller & Chevalier, and Michael Shaheen, most recently a Department of Justice trial attorney in the commercial litigation branch's fraud section.
Crowell, well known for its government contracts practice, regularly advises on matters tied to the False Claims Act, which imposes liability for defrauding the government. But with the level of government spending over the Paycheck Protection Program and the CARES Act, "there undoubtedly will be" rising FCA investigations and litigation, said Philip Inglima, chairman of Crowell's management board. Already reports are coming in of "widespread potential fraud" from a Small Business Administration government grant program, according to a report last week from the agency's inspector general.
Crowell lawyers have already begun to see a swell in activity from the CARES Act and PPP, and Inglima said he expects FCA activity over these efforts to continue for a few years. "We're seeing just the beginning of it," he said.
While Crowell's revenue has taken a hit in 2020, like many other firms this year, and the Am Law 200 firm cut pay for attorneys and some staff, "we are doing better than expected in this environment," Inglima said. The firm expected to see a more than 15% difference in revenue this year, "and so far it's been less," he added.
Inglima said it was too early to say when compensation cuts would be restored, but he said he still expected some pay cut reversals by the end of 2020. "We are evaluating what would be the prudent time for that," he said. "We tried to be as cautious as possible. Our goal was not to part with any of our talent."
Crowell did not see any layoffs or furloughs, Inglima said, noting "we are absolutely in growth mode." After adding several partners in the first half of the year, Inglima said the firm is talking with other individuals and groups and could add about 10 more in the second half of the year.
Hiring Pugh and Shaheen was consistent with the firm's "long-term view" for demand, he said. Many firm clients, he said, are seeking attorneys who have been in the government working on alleged health care fraud matters and can understand the analysis in seeking enforcement. Both Pugh and Shaheen, he said, spent time on these matters in the government. "That's invaluable to our clients," he said.
At the Justice Department, the firm said, Shaheen's roles on FCA cases ranged from lead investigator to first-chair trial attorney and he obtained judgments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. He "led more than 60 high-stakes, high-dollar investigations" involving alleged violations of the FCA, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, among others, the firm said.
Shaheen joins Crowell's health care and white-collar and regulatory enforcement groups.
Meanwhile, Pugh "has a long track record" of leading FCA investigations and trials involving whistleblower claims, the firm said, noting he will serve on the firm's steering committee of its FCA practice.
Pugh, earlier in his career, was a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, a former litigation and compliance investigations counsel at GE Healthcare and was a partner at Chicago firm Pugh, Jones & Johnson. He advises boards of directors, general counsel, and chief compliance officers on government and internal investigations, related litigation, and crisis management.
Pugh currently serves as an appointed deputy monitor in the gaming industry, overseeing a company's efforts to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination, the firm said. He has also been appointed a monitor for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
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Crowell Cuts Pay, Citing COVID-19 Projections, Aiming to Avoid Layoffs
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