Vorys False Claims Practice Selected as a Government Contracts Practice Group of the Year

The Vorys False Claims Act (FCA) practice has been selected as a Government Contracts Practice Group of the Year by Law360, a leading legal news agency. 

Law360 editors selected the national practice groups of the year from submissions by more than 500 law firms.  According to the organization, Vorys was selected for its work on several FCA cases and its “impressive track record in FCA litigation — which includes obtaining rare jury verdicts for government contractors.”

Vorys was one of five law firms – and the only one headquartered in the Midwest – selected for the honor.  The firm is one of the only in the country that has tried, and won, defense jury verdicts for government contractors in FCA cases.  It also has represented others in lawsuits regarding contracts with governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Energy.

Law360 referenced several of these victories when naming the Vorys group as one of the top nationally. Including:

• Serving as lead counsel, representing a large defense contractor, in a qui tam FCA case over an $87 billion military contract.  Vorys obtained dismissal of the lawsuit.
• Successfully serving as lead counsel in an intervened FCA case defending a large prime contractor against allegations of illegal pricing and reckless oversight of a tooling supplier that was engaged in a criminal fraudulent scheme.
• Serving as lead counsel representing a family of Department of Energy contractors in a consolidated several billion dollar FCA case in which the Department of Justice and a host of relators allege widespread misrepresentations relating to environmental compliance and remediation. 
• Representing subcontractor Allison Engine Co. Inc. in a FCA suit claiming that generator sets provided to power the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke destroyers were defective. Vorys argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Allison Engine's favor.

The firm’s FCA practice includes 25 attorneys, most of whom are located in the firm’s Cincinnati office.  According to Law360, this is rarity among law firm’s that work in FCA litigation.

The article states:

“‘People don't usually say London, Paris, Cincinnati,’ Victor Walton, a partner in Vorys Sater's FCA practice, readily admits.  ‘[But] we have recruited outstanding young lawyers who could practice in D.C., New York and Chicago.’

According to Glenn Whitaker, head of the firm's FCA practice, counting Cincinnati as a base for the group has both promoted a collegial environment among the firm's government contracts attorneys and made it possible for Vorys Sater to offer competitive rates.  ‘We operate on hourly billing rates and arrangements that are far more attractive than you find in the District of Columbia or New York or wherever else our competition exists,’ Whitaker said.”

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Vorys was established in 1909 and has grown to be one of the largest Ohio-based law firms with 375 attorneys in six offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Houston, Texas. Vorys currently ranks as one of the 200 largest law firms in the United States according to American Lawyer magazine.