Laura’s practice encompasses internal investigations, government investigations and enforcement proceedings, white collar criminal defense, and complex litigation matters for clients in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, education, sports, and financial services. She has particular experience handling resolutions of pharmacy benefit and PBM disputes, government investigations, litigation, and arbitration for laboratories and health plans, and guiding individuals through government investigations and enforcement proceedings. Laura is experienced in managing the electronic discovery process for litigation, internal investigations, and governmental inquiries. In addition, Laura maintains an active pro bono practice, in which she counsels and represents clients in matters related to unemployment benefits, evictions, immigration, and sealing criminal records.

Prior to joining Mintz, Laura was a litigation associate and earlier a summer associate at a Boston-based full-service law firm, where she worked on a broad range of employment, securities, and white collar matters.

During and immediately after law school, Laura served as a student public defender with the Committee for Public Counsel Services of the Plymouth County Trial Office in Brockton, Massachusetts. While attending law school, she worked as a government & neighborhood affairs assistant for the Boston Red Sox.

Prior to attending law school, Laura worked as an office manager and paralegal at a Boston-based boutique litigation firm that focuses on white collar criminal defense, business litigation, and appeals.

Petition for Certiorari Filed in Supreme Court in False Claims Act Case Seeking Review of Whether “Willful” Under the Anti-Kickback Statute Requires Knowledge that the Conduct is Unlawful

July 8, 2024 | Blog | By Laurence Freedman, Laura E. Martin

The Supreme Court now has the opportunity to define “willfulness” under the federal criminal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). In a declined qui tam case filed against McKesson Corporation, a pharmaceutical wholesaler, the relator, Adam Hart, a former McKesson employee, filed a petition for certiorari seeking Supreme Court review of a Second Circuit decision that upheld the dismissal of relator’s complaint asserting claims under the civil False Claims Act (FCA) premised on alleged violations of the AKS. U.S. ex rel. Hart v. McKesson Corp., 96 F.4th 145 (2d Cir. 2024). A violation of the AKS requires as the scienter element that the defendant "knowingly and willfully" offered or paid remuneration to induce the recipient of the renumeration to purchase goods or items for which payment may be made under a federal health care program. 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)(2). The Second Circuit held that a defendant does not act “willfully” within the meaning of the AKS unless that defendant “act[s] knowing that his conduct is unlawful.” United States ex rel. Hart, 96 F.4th at 154.

February 8, 2024 | Blog | By Grady Campion, Daniel Cody, Laurence Freedman, Laura E. Martin

In 2023, the Supreme Court and the US Courts of Appeals published a number of significant decisions involving FCA issues with implications for health care and life science entities, including a deepening circuit split on the causation standard applicable to FCA cases based on theories under the Anti-Kickback Statute.

February 8, 2024 | Blog | By Grady Campion, Daniel Cody, Laurence Freedman, Laura E. Martin

Despite the DOJ Criminal Division’s January 2023 revisions to its Corporate Enforcement Policy defining the criteria for declining to prosecute a criminal case, based on the two case examples from this past year, it is unclear how often the DOJ will actually put that policy into practice and decline or defer prosecution.

February 8, 2024 | Blog | By Grady Campion, Daniel Cody, Laurence Freedman, Laura E. Martin

In the past year, DOJ obtained some of its largest recoveries in cases where violations of the Stark Law, which bars physicians from profiting from self-referrals for certain services payable by Medicare or Medicaid, served as a predicate offense for FCA claims. These included cases against Community Health Network, Covenant Healthcare System, Cardiac Imaging, and Steward Health entities.

February 8, 2024 | Blog | By Grady Campion, Daniel Cody, Laurence Freedman, Laura E. Martin

Several case dispositions from this past year, both criminal and civil, reaffirm DOJ’s policy of ensuring individual accountability in resolving allegations of wrongdoing and underscore the importance of considering that issue in the resolution of any FCA case.

January 3, 2022 | Article

Mintz attorneys represented advocacy groups that intervened in federal litigation to support a temporary selection process for Boston’s exam schools for the 2021–2022 school year. A federal district court judge held the plan to be race-neutral, and Special Counsel Andy Nathanson helped counter the plaintiff’s motion to stop the plan’s implementation during the appeal process. Following revelations of new evidence, the district court judge reaffirmed his ruling.

January 21, 2021 | Blog | By Pete Michaels, Cory S. Flashner, Laura E. Martin

On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (the “NDAA”), after overriding a presidential veto. Within the NDAA is the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AMLA”), which introduces substantial reforms to U.S. anti-money laundering (“AML”) and counter-terrorism financing (“CFT”) laws.

Read less