Aaron Katz is a partner in Ropes & Gray’s globally recognized Litigation and Enforcement practice group. Aaron represents corporate and individual clients in high-profile, complex criminal and civil matters at all stages of the proceedings.
Aaron’s client representations have spanned numerous industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health care delivery, energy, insurance, and finance.
As a trial lawyer, Aaron has represented corporate and individual clients at jury trials in the Southern District of New York, the District of Massachusetts, the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Massachusetts State Court. Aaron also has represented clients during criminal and civil pre-trial and post-trial proceedings in nearly a dozen different federal courts.
As an appellate litigator, Aaron has represented clients in five courts of appeals, the United States Supreme Court, and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Recently, Aaron authored an amicus brief on behalf of forty-four corporate and criminal law professors in a highly-publicized Supreme Court case involving the Affordable Care Act.
In addition to his trial and appellate work, Aaron has represented corporate and individual clients in connection with federal grand jury investigations, civil subpoena compliance, out-of-court negotiations with the Department of Justice, internal investigations and compliance program development, and international arbitration proceedings.
While at Ropes & Gray, Aaron has spent significant time on pro bono work, including representing torture victims before the United States Immigration Court, obtaining safe housing for indigent tenants, and collaborating with organizations that provide assistance to human trafficking victims. For the past eight years, Aaron has served as a capital habeas petitioner’s lead counsel.
Aaron has published several articles in both industry and academic journals, including articles addressing the FDA’s increased focus on corporate executives, constitutional limits on criminal penalties imposed on corporate defendants, and the False Claims Act.
In 2012, Aaron co-taught a White Collar Crime seminar at Boston College Law School. In 2013, Aaron was a guest lecturer for a Death Penalty Litigation seminar at Boston College Law School.
EDUCATION :
- JD, magna cum laude, Harvard Law School, 2004; Harvard Law Review
- BS (Political Science), summa cum laude, University of San Francisco, 2001
ADMISSIONS :
- Massachusetts, 2005
- U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2009
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2009
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2007
CLERKSHIPS : Honorable Reena Raggi, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Experience :
- Trial counsel to a Boston-area real estate developer indicted on federal wire fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with a $75 million real estate transaction with Wynn Resorts Limited. At the conclusion of a highly-publicized three week trial, the jury acquitted our client on all charges after less than six hours of deliberations.
- In 2014, submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of forty-four criminal and corporate law professors in Hobby Lobby et al v. Sebelius et al., a closely-watched case involving a challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
- Secured on behalf of a leading health care provider a dismissal with prejudice of a relator’s 80-page False Claims Act complaint alleging a multi-year kickback scheme and seeking substantial damages.
- Helped negotiate favorable federal and state settlements on behalf of a leading health care provider alleged to have solicited product discounts in violation of the False Claims Act.
- Successfully defended on appeal in the Third Circuit, on behalf of a nationally prominent pharmacy benefit manager, a district court’s dismissal with prejudice of a False Claims Act complaint premised on a then-novel implied false certification theory.
- Appellate counsel to a natural gas derivatives trader who a federal jury had convicted of attempting to manipulate the price of natural gas.
- Defeated a relator’s motion for an award of nearly $3 million in attorneys’ fees against a major health system in a precedent-setting decision out of the Southern District of New York.
- Represented a leading international insurance company at a civil jury trial in the Southern District of New York in a matter involving first-party environmental coverage claims made by a chemical manufacturer that polluted and was required to remediate significant portions of the Niagara River basin.
Cost
Rate : $$$