(San Francisco), August 31, 2010 — DLA Piper announced today that Carolyn McNiven has joined the firm’s Litigation practice as a partner in the San Francisco office. McNiven previously served as Deputy Chief in the Financial Fraud and Special Prosecutions Section for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. In that capacity, she established the district’s Healthcare Fraud Task Force comprised of numerous federal law enforcement agencies and initiated the district’s special focus initiative on healthcare fraud.
McNiven will focus on anti -kickback investigations and criminal prosecutions, Stark Act investigations, and white collar-related litigation including FCPA, fraud, tax and securities matters. She has extensive experience in criminal healthcare fraud, financial services fraud, bankruptcy fraud, and FCPA matters. McNiven also has extensive experience in provider-side healthcare fraud enforcement, an area where enforcement activity is on the rise. McNiven will also serve as a point person on food safety issues, an area where new federal legislation is likely to be introduced in the coming months.
“San Francisco has recently been designated as one of the three centers for prosecution of healthcare fraud cases,” said David F. Gross, Regional Chair, US Litigation Practice for DLA Piper. “Carolyn McNiven will provide a unique resource of national application to our healthcare provider clients as well as healthcare insurance clients, and also provide substantial expertise relating to food safety laws and the FDA.”
McNiven’s move to DLA Piper comes less than a month after Mary Langowski joined the firm’s Healthcare Public Policy Group in Washington, DC. Langowski is working with former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) to expand the already formidable national healthcare practice that DLA Piper has created. Earlier this Spring, a group of nine attorneys with a diverse base of litigation, transactional and regulatory experience in healthcare matters joined DLA Piper in Sacramento.
“Carolyn McNiven is a welcome addition to our growing litigation practice in San Francisco,” said Stephen A. Cowan, Managing Partner of DLA Piper’s San Francisco office. “DLA Piper continuously strives to attract the best talent available in the market; we believe Carolyn will be of tremendous value to our clients.”
Carolyn McNiven previously served as Deputy Chief, Financial Fraud and Special Prosecutions Section and head of the Healthcare Fraud Task Force in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Prior to joining the office of the U.S. Attorney in 1997, McNiven clerked for Judge Paul Plunkett in the Northern District of Illinois, and earlier was an associate at Grippo & Elden and at Winston & Strawn, focusing on healthcare law and food regulation by the FDA. McNiven earned a B.A. from Amherst College and a J.D. from Boalt Hall, Berkeley School of Law.
DLA Piper’s Litigation team is comprised of more than 1,400 dispute resolution lawyers globally, including many lawyers named leaders in their fields by the most prominent independent directories. Among them are a former Chief Litigation Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement; ten members of the American College of Trial Lawyers (including a past president), two former United States Attorneys, numerous former Assistant United States Attorneys, two former Deputy State Attorneys General, a former federal judge and numerous partners who are listed in The Best Lawyers in America and in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
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