Department of Justice Veteran Michael Shaheen Joins Quinn Emanuel
Joins from Crowell & Moring – bringing expertise in civil fraud, health care litigation and government investigations – to become co-head of QE’s False Claims Act Practice.
WASHINGTON – Former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Michael Shaheen – one of the nation’s leading False Claims Act (FCA) litigators – has joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP as a partner, the firm announced today. Shaheen joins the firm from Crowell & Moring, where he was a partner, and will be resident in the Washington, DC office.
At Quinn Emanuel, Shaheen will join the Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice as well as the Health Care Litigation Practice. He will also become Co-Head of the new False Claims Act Practice, firm leaders said.
“Mike is a recognized and accomplished expert in False Claims Act litigation and had an illustrious career at the Department of Justice. He understands how fraud cases are tried and will be a huge asset to this firm. We are pleased to have him join us,” said John B. Quinn, the firm’s Founder and Chairman.
Shaheen has practiced in the areas of health care litigation, white collar defense and regulatory enforcement since returning to private practice in 2020. He has defended large, publicly-traded companies against government investigations and actions, often related to allegations of health care fraud and improprieties in government contracting. He has extensive experience representing clients in FCA and Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) cases, negotiating favorable resolutions with government agencies prior to government intervention and leading internal investigations to assess allegations of wrongdoing.
At the U.S. Department of Justice, Shaheen practiced in the Civil Division for six years, focusing primarily on fraud cases, including health care fraud and mortgage fraud. He led more than 60 investigations into allegations of violations of the FCA, the AKS and other federal anti-fraud statutes. His work led to the recovery of more than $250 million for the U.S. government. In addition, he first-chaired one of the largest AKS cases in history, U.S. ex rel. Mayes v. Berkeley Heartlab, a case involving allegations that blood testing laboratories were paying kickbacks to physicians and sales people in order to induce unnecessary blood testing. In that case, Shaheen secured a guilty verdict along with a $117 million judgment.
“Mike has an outstanding reputation as a trial lawyer, and his expertise in government investigations and how fraud cases are tried and won will be invaluable to our firm,” said William Burck, Global Co-Managing Partner of the Firm and Co-Chair of the firm’s Crisis Law and Strategy Group, the Government and Regulatory Litigation Group, and the Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Group.
“I am tremendously excited about joining Quinn Emanuel, known as the best business litigation firm in the world. Their status as the go-to firm for high stakes litigation is widely known, and I look forward to practicing with this outstanding team,” Shaheen said.
Download the press release here.