Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Samek, Werther & Mills is a boutique general business practice serving clients in Washington DC and Maryland
Small business attorney Washington DC, Small business attorney Maryland, Small law firm Rockville MD
15559
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Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Complex Commercial Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense and Dispute Resolution

LITIGATION

The firm has substantial experience representing clients involved in both civil and criminal cases in the state and federal courts in and around the Washington Beltway.  The firm is particularly experienced in representing clients (as both lead and local counsel) in cases brought in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  The “Rocket Docket” is known for its speedy and unforgiving rules and it is a jurisdiction where local guidance is an essential success factor.

  • Contract disputes (including real estate partnership disputes, construction contracts and software development agreement disputes)
  • Business torts
  • Shareholder disputes and business divorces
  • Arbitrations (including international arbitrations)
  • Intellectual property and technology-related disputes
  • Defense of defamation and news gathering tort claims for media entities

Prior Representative matters include:

 

Represented major insurance carrier in prosecuting and defending $10 million insurance fraud case against an insured.  Carrier prevailed on all counts.

 

Represented major California county in obtaining a $21 million settlement from contractor for a botched software development contract.

 

Successfully handled more than 50 shareholder or business divorce cases, usually without judicial intervention.

 

Obtained $3.2 million contract dispute judgment for local telecommunications company against international communications company.

 

Obtained dismissals in two patent infringement cases in the Eastern District of Virginia based on the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Alice concerning ineligible patent subject matter.

 

Successfully resolved dozens of software copyright or trade secret infringement cases.

 

Represented almost every local television station in courtroom access matters.

 

Represented major media companies in defamation and news gathering tort actions.

The firm has wide-ranging experience in representing companies and individuals being investigated for, or charged with, federal criminal offenses.  This experience includes:

 

  • False Claims Act investigations and trials
  • Government contracting fraud
  • Healthcare and pharmaceutical-related fraud
  • Political corruption or election law reporting crimes
  • Crypto-currency crimes and investigations
  • Immigration fraud
  • Cyber crimes
  • Securities Fraud Investigations and prosecutions

Prior Representative matters include:

 

Obtaining a jury-trial acquittal for an attorney charged with 32 counts of immigration fraud.

 

Obtaining a no-prosecution agreement for a physician being investigated for over $20 million of Medicare fraud.

 

Representing a major party candidate for President of the United States in a criminal investigation.

 

Representing two witnesses in the political corruption trial against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

 

Representing campaign manager of candidate for President of the United States in an election law reporting trial.

 

Representing nation’s largest privately owned home mortgage company in False Claims Act trial.

 

Representing a Fortune 200 corporation in government contracting fraud investigation.

 

Representing pharmaceutical company in investigation of alleged violations of current good manufacturing practices and false FDA reports.

SCALABILITY

Clients should not pay for extravagant offices, large marketing budgets, or a substantial permanent staff of attorneys. Our firm is committed to hiring only a small cadre of excellent practitioners and to leveraging the latest technology, best practices, and relationships in maximizing its professional depth and breadth, which allows the firm to handle the large or complicated matters anywhere in the country. The firm’s attorneys have cultivated relationships and have teamed with other firms to handle many large litigations and transactions. These include:

  • Teaming with a major intellectual property firm to try a patent inventorship case in federal court in Orange County California.
  • Teaming with two Houston firms to try the largest federal False Claims Act case in the country in 2016.
  •  Teaming with two firms to try a major federal election law reporting fraud case in Des Moines, Iowa.
  • Teaming with national firm to try a major insurance fraud case in Virginia.
  • Teaming with a major international law firm to represent a foreign client accused of both civil and criminal trade secret theft.

ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION

In even moderately complex litigation or investigations, the cost of producing electronically stored information (“ESI”) can be a budget buster and the improper handling of ESI can result in sanctions, an unfavorable settlement, or a lost case.  For that reason, it is imperative to retain competent counsel who can assist you in developing policies and protocols for managing ESI and for collecting it and producing it in the most responsive and cost-effective manner when responding to subpoenas, civil investigative demands, or discovery requests. The firm’s ESI services include:

  • Pre-litigation advice and planning
  • Litigation hold notices
  • Negotiating the scope and timing of ESI production
  • Selecting and supervising ESI vendors using the latest technology assisted review algorithms
  • Motions under the recent amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure concerning proportionality of ESI productions
  • Coordinating ESI productions with internal investigations