Laura Hoey

Laura G. Hoey is co-leader of the Government Enforcement and White Collar Group and co-leader of the Health Care and Life Sciences Industry Group at Ropes & Gray LLP in Chicago. Laura combines her trial and investigative skills as a former federal health care fraud prosecutor with extensive experience in the health care industry.

Laura is known for creative and tenacious defenses and for efficient, well-managed internal investigations.She represents clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic laboratory, and dental industries who are facing government investigations and Congressional inquiries. Laura conducts internal investigations in all types of government and regulatory compliance matters including:

• potential violations of whistleblower and anti-kickback statutes and of anti-corruption and anti-bribery statutes, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,
• alleged improper marketing of pharmaceutical products and medical devices for uses for which they have not been approved by the FDA (off-label marketing), and
• alleged violations of privacy and cybersecurity laws, including HIPAA.

As a federal prosecutor, Laura prosecuted health care fraud, kickback violations, Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act violations, document destruction and obstruction cases, and criminal HIPAA violations, as well as tax fraud and public corruption. She was first chair in five trials, winning convictions in all five.

In 2008, Laura received the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General’s Integrity Award. Laura is a member of the firm’s Women’s Forum and Pro Bono Committee.

EDUCATION :

• JD, Yale Law School, 2001
• BA, summa cum laude, University of Notre Dame, 1998; Phi Beta Kappa

ADMISSIONS :

• Massachusetts, 2002
• Illinois, 2012
• U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2011
• U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Arkansas, 2007
• U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 2002

CLERKSHIPS : Honorable George A. O’Toole, Jr., U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2001 – 2002)

MEMBERSHIP & AFFILIATIONS :

• Women’s White Collar Defense Association
• Founder and former co-chair, Boston Chapter of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Subcommittee for the White Collar Crime Committee

Experience :

• Representing an executive of a Japanese medical device manufacturer in a major U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) investigation.
• Representing several pharmaceutical companies in a sweeping, industry-wide investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts and the DOJ into donations to charitable assistance foundations that provide financial assistance to Medicare patients.
• Representing a group of surgeons in a False Claims Act qui tam lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois relating to alleged unlawful billing of services.
• Representing a major medical device manufacturer in a False Claims Act case alleging fraud against federal and state government health care programs in connection with certain spinal implant devices.
• Advising a national hospitalist services provider in responding to a state agency notice that its Medicaid payments were being suspended pursuant to federal regulation.
• Prosecuted breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty claims on behalf of a dental support organization; secured a complete dismissal of the defendant’s counterclaims against the client.
• Leading multiple internal investigations for a major pharmaceutical company into alleged Foreign Corrupt Practice Act violations in China.
• Advising a private equity firm in connection with indemnification claims based on federal health care fraud investigations.
• Representing a health care data management client being investigated by the Office of Inspector General for the United States Postal Service.