Philadelphia White Collar Bar Reception

2025/02/26

Co-Hosted By Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP Please join the Philadelphia White Collar Bar for a reception on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 from 6:00-8:30pm (EST) to kick off the ABA National Institute on White Collar Crime in Miami, FL. Several Philadelphia law and consulting firms are co-hosting cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Other Sponsors Include:  Zuckerman Spaeder Barnes & Thornburg Cooley LLP Charles River Associates DLA Piper LLP Eversheds Sutherland Hecker Fink LLP Hogan Lovells US LLP Kostelanetz LLP Latham & Watkins LLP Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP Read More

Pietragallo Welcomes Gregory A. Mason

2024/12/09

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Gregory A. Mason to the firm’s Philadelphia office. Greg has joined the firm as senior counsel in our Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation and the Qui Tam & False Claims Act Practice Groups. He focuses his practice on representing qui tam plaintiffs and defendants in False Claims Act cases, defending individuals and entities under criminal and civil investigation, litigating all aspects of fraud cases, and other complex matters, and more. As a former trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice (Civil Division, Fraud Section), he successfully led dozens of investigations and litigations and helped to recover over $100 million in settlements and resolutions of cases brought under the False Claims Act. Prior to his time at the Department of Justice, Greg worked in Washington, D.C. at a large law firm where he litigated cases involving a broad range of legal issues including government investigations, commercial disputes, breach of contract, intellectual property, defamation, and professional malpractice. Learn more about Greg here. About Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP is a multi-disciplined business and commercial litigation firm headquartered in Pittsburgh with six offices throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and West Virginia from which we serve our clients in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Read More

Navigating the Storm: Pulling Through a Crisis When The Worst Is Over (Part 2)

2024/12/05

Organizations can face a crisis at any time. It can be specific to them, such as a food recall, a data breach or workplace violence, or it can be a crisis from the effects of a situation beyond its control, such as a hurricane or other natural disaster. In the immediacy of a crisis, an organization can effectively manage the situation with (1) advance planning and having a team in place with assigned roles; (2) focused attention and sufficient resources to minimize the impact on those for whom the organization is responsible; and (3) frequent communication by organizational leaders with clear information about what has occurred, the present status, and how those impacted can connect with resources to help them recover. An organization’s leaders’ work is not finished once the immediate crisis subsides. There is still work to do to help the organization and those affected by the situation recover and transcend the crisis and refocus on the organizational mission. This article discusses how an organization can move beyond the “acute phase” of a crisis and navigate through the “recovery phase” to successfully put the entire matter behind it. While it is difficult to generalize, because each situation is different, successfully managing the aftermath of a crisis typically involves four specific elements: (1) Support those affected; (2) investigate what happened and how the organization responded; (3) take corrective action to avoid similar issues; and (4) liaise with local, state, and federal authorities. 1. Provide Support. Whether or not an organization technically is “at fault” in the crisis, making an effort to support those who have been affected by the incident is another important element of crisis management. It is common to see organizations step forward and help those who have been impacted. Examples: Schools routinely provide counseling to students and staff following acts of violence, and credit card companies provide free credit monitoring services after a security breach. Read More

Navigating the Storm: Effective Crisis Management (Part 1)

2024/12/03

It has been said that when everything’s a crisis, nothing’s a crisis. But over the past few years, we sure have seen a lot of genuine crises. School or workplace shootings, hateful and violent campus protests, hurricanes, food safety issues, cyberattacks, a pandemic, civil unrest, and getting caught up in a viral maelstrom in our contentious political climate (see, e.g., Bud Light). All have had profound impacts on organizations’ standing with key constituencies. The next crisis could be right around the corner, and the world will not be forgiving if we don’t handle it well. I have had the privilege of serving as the Burlington County (NJ) Prosecutor, as senior deputy chief counsel to Gov. Chris Christie, and as associate counsel to President George W. Bush, and have learned a few lessons (some of them the hard way) about managing crises. Fundamentally, it is critical that organizations have a crisis management plan and be in position to respond effectively to prevent an emergency from becoming a crisis, or mitigate the consequences of whatever crisis arises. Effective crisis management involves the following elements: 1. Forge a crisis game plan. 2. Focus on the safety of those directly affected. 3. Overcommunicate. 1. Have a gameplan before the crisis hits. A sound crisis management plan identifies the individuals who will be responsible for responding to a crisis and assigns them specific roles for that response. The group should meet periodically to “game plan” and develop check lists for responding to a reasonably foreseeable event. One important pre-incident focus should be on continuity of operations, addressing how to maintain operations if, for example, the entity has a COVID outbreak, or its facility is shut down for whatever reason. Most entities now are well-versed in remote operations, but COVID is yesterday’s crisis; organizations need to plan for tomorrow’s, and so 2020 plans should be revisited to ensure they will be effective in 2024-2025. Read More

Collateral Consequences of Healthcare Prosecutions

2024/11/21

An article from Pietragallo’s Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation Group’s Publication of Staying Ahead of the Curve: Practical Guidance for Government Enforcement Matters and Internal Investigations. The full publication can be found here.   Assume for a moment you have been retained by a physician who has been charged with several counts of healthcare fraud. In the indictment, the government contends that your new client has been billing Medicare and Medicaid for services that were allegedly not provided over the course of several years. During your meeting with the client, he admits that some of his billing practices were improper, and although he may have defenses on some of the charges, he is considering whether to plead guilty. The decision on what stratagems to employ, like all other white-collar prosecutions, will depend on the client’s facts and circumstances. In healthcare prosecutions, however, there are several important collateral consequences that criminal counsel should consider when advising a healthcare provider client accused of criminal conduct. OIG Exclusions for Medicare and Medicaid The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) is authorized to exclude healthcare providers from federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare, and federally funded state healthcare programs, such as Medicaid, based upon a criminal conviction. Once excluded, Medicare and/or Medicaid will not pay for any item or service furnished, ordered or prescribed, either directly or indirectly, by the excluded provider. Additionally, it is highly unlikely the provider will find employment with any entity, individual, or institution that relies on Medicare or Medicaid. As a result, exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid is one of the most significant sanctions that can be imposed on a healthcare provider, and can essentially end the career of a provider that relies heavily on such programs. Exclusions from these programs are either mandatory or permissive under the statute. Read More

Preserving Privilege in Internal Investigations

2024/11/21

An article from Pietragallo’s Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation Group’s Publication of Staying Ahead of the Curve: Practical Guidance for Government Enforcement Matters and Internal Investigations. The full publication can be found here.   One thing leaders of organizations routinely recognize is that “you never know what tomorrow will bring.” Another common slogan is “life happens.” If “life” happens to bring the organization a situation that could expose the organization, its employees, customers, leaders or other constituencies to physical, legal, financial or reputational peril, a logical first step is to conduct an internal investigation to identify the extent, cause, and scope of the problem, and to receive informed legal advice about how to address it. The information developed through internal investigations may be protected from disclosure to third parties by the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrines. This article presents an “FAQ” about how those privileges may apply to internal investigations, and steps that should be taken to preserve those protections. What privileges may apply? Attorney-client privilege: Attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between a lawyer and their client that relate to the client’s seeking of legal advice or services. It encompasses any form of communication, including oral, written or electronic. The attorney-client privilege belongs to the client, and the client must consent to any disclosure of privileged communications by the lawyer to a third party. Work product: The work product doctrine, as its name suggests, protects the work product – the thoughts, mental impressions, and analysis of counsel prepared in anticipation of litigation. What steps should we take at the outset to protect privilege as best as possible? Bearing in mind that attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications with counsel aimed at receiving legal advice, and the work product doctrine protects the analysis and mental impressions of counsel, the best way to ensure that information developed in an internal investigation will be protected from unwanted disclosure is to have an attorney direct the investigation. Read More

Supreme Court Leaves Open a Major Risk to Internal Corporate Communications

2024/11/21

An article from Pietragallo’s Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation Group’s Publication of Staying Ahead of the Curve: Practical Guidance for Government Enforcement Matters and Internal Investigations. The full publication can be found here.   It is commonplace for attorneys, compliance officers, and other executives (particularly those who are also attorneys) to receive communications from clients that have more than one purpose. Take for example a doctor who calls a friend and the hospital’s compliance officer to set up a dinner for their families. During that call, the doctor mentions that he is thinking about starting his own practice and asks the compliance officer if he thinks it is a good idea. Later in the conversation, the doctor mentions to the compliance officer that one of her colleagues has a habit of looking into the records of other physicians’ patients and the doctor says she finds this “creepy.” The doctor asks the compliance officer if he is obligated to report the colleague for a potential HIPAA violation. While you might assume that this conversation is protected by the attorney-client privilege, that assumption can easily be wrong. The hypothetical above raises the issue of “dual-purpose communications,” which are communications between a lawyer and client that have both legal and non-legal purposes. Dual-purpose communications occur routinely in businesses across the country, particularly in highly regulated areas such as healthcare compliance. Recent decisions by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court have drawn into question how courts will determine whether dual purpose communications are protected by the attorney-client privilege. Courts have historically used one of two tests to analyze whether dual-purpose communications should be protected by the attorney-client privilege. First, under “the primary purpose” test, courts look at whether the primary purpose of the communication is to give or receive legal advice, as opposed to business or tax advice. Read More

When Authorities Come Knocking: Preparing For, and Responding Appropriately To, The Execution of a Search Warrant

2024/11/21

An article from Pietragallo’s Government Enforcement, Compliance, & White Collar Litigation Group’s Publication of Staying Ahead of the Curve: Practical Guidance for Government Enforcement Matters and Internal Investigations. The full publication can be found here.   One of our country’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, taught us, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” It is imperative that everyone, especially those who own a business or otherwise run an organization, prepare for the possibility of being the subject or target of an investigation by law enforcement. To be clear, not only those engaging in unlawful conduct find themselves on the receiving end of a government inquiry. The United States Department of Justice employs more than 115,000 individuals across its various divisions, many of whom are paid for the sole purpose of conducting investigations. States’ Attorneys General and county and city prosecutors across the country each employ up to hundreds or thousands of employees, many of whom do not try cases but rather investigate alleged crimes for potential prosecution. Coupled with incentives for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing, it is entirely possible, and even likely in select industries, that businesses will be the subject of legal process at some point in the company’s lifespan. The most serious – and intimidating – of such legal process is the execution of a search warrant. It is incumbent upon corporate entities and their leadership to prepare all employees on how to calmly and effectively respond to the execution of a search warrant in order to avoid allegations of obstruction, limit admissions and liability, maintain continuity of operations, and preserve all available privileges. The below steps serve as a non-exhaustive checklist of best practices to accomplish the above goals. Immediately notify counsel that a search warrant has been served and is being executed. Counsel are trained professionals who are best suited to interface with government agents. Read More

Pietragallo recognized in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®

2024/11/07

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP has been recognized in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®, receiving sixteen Tier 1 Metro rankings in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. These sixteen rankings include: Commercial Litigation (PGH & PHL) Criminal Defense – White Collar (PHL) Employment Law – Individuals (PHL) Employment Law – Management (PHL) Health Care Law (PHL) Family Law (PGH) Insurance Law (PGH) Litigation – Insurance (PGH) Litigation – Labor & Employment (PGH & PHL) Litigation – Real Estate (PGH) Litigation – Trusts & Estates (PGH) Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs (PGH) Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants (PGH) Product Liability Litigation – Defendants (PGH) Trusts and Estates (PGH) Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers (PGH) In addition to the Tier 1 Metro rankings, Pietragallo also received ten Tier 2 and Tier 3 Metro rankings: Tier 2 Metro firm in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the respective practice areas of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Corporate Compliance Law, Construction Law, Criminal Defense: White Collar, Employment Law – Management, and Litigation – Intellectual Property. Tier 3 Metro firm in Pittsburgh in the practice areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Corporate Law, and Litigation – Construction. Pietragallo has also been named as a Tier 2 National firm in Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Labor & Employment and a Tier 3 National firm for our work in Health Care Law. Best Law Firms rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. Clients were asked to provide feedback on firm practice groups, addressing: expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, and whether they would refer another client to the firm. Read More

Pamela Coyle Brecht to Present at Seton Hall’s Virtual Healthcare Compliance Program

2024/10/08

Partner Pamela Coyle Brecht will be returning to Seton Hall’s Virtual Healthcare Compliance Program held on October 8, 2024. Pam will be co-presenting alongside Meredith Auten on “The False Claims Act and Dealing with Whistleblowers.” This 4-day virtual program will cover statutes, regulations, and other guidance that encompass the body of law known as fraud and abuse law. Pam’s panel will take place on the second day of the program with the day’s topics focusing on False Claims Act; Anti-Kickback statute; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Advertising & Promotion; and Speaker Programs.   Read More