Ropes & Gray’s White Collar Practice Recognized in Law360’s Practice Groups of the Year

Rankings & Awards
March 3, 2012

Law360, the online outlet for legal news and analysis, has named Ropes & Gray’s white collar group Practice of the Year for 2011 based on the firm’s work on a number of cases.

The practice group “had plenty to celebrate in 2011 as the firm’s white collar team amassed a long list of wins and favorable settlements in marquee cases like the Abramoff lobbying scandal and the acquittal of embroiled GlaxoSmithKline PLC attorney Lauren Stevens,” Law360 wrote.

Among the cases Law360 cited were Ropes & Gray’s representation of:

  • Michael Scanlon in the high-profile Jack Abramoff lobbying investigation in Washington, D.C.
  • Lauren Stevens in a case where she was charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements to a federal agency based on her involvement in responding to an FDA inquiry to GSK regarding possible off-label marketing.
  • IASIS in a whistleblower suit brought by a former employee.

“What makes Ropes & Gray’s 85-member white collar team so strong is that its attorneys are not afraid to take cases all the way to trial,” said Brien O’Connor, co-chair of the firm’s government enforcement practice. “We have an expertise in dealing with the factual information, but we do pride ourselves on being trial lawyers and being able to go into the courtroom as needed,” Brien added.

Ropes & Gray has “a lot of seasoned defense lawyers in all kinds of fields,” Washington, D.C.-based government enforcement partner Steve Braga said. “In most firms, you have a real senior leader who's the star, and then a bunch of team members working for him. We don't really have that one senior point person. We have a bunch of people who are all very good, and very well thought-of, a breadth… and a depth of experience.”

To read Law360’s article on the award, please click here.

Ropes & Gray was also named practice group of the year by Law360 for health care / life sciencessecurities litigation and private equity.