The arrival of Valerie Cohen at Venable was covered by Law360, Attorney at Law, CityBiz, Bloomberg Law, and Reuters. Ms. Cohen joins the firm as a partner in the Commercial Litigation Practice in the New York office. She is an established lawyer specializing in False Claims Act litigation, regulatory and internal investigations, and compliance redesign in the managed care reimbursement, pharmacy benefit, and drug manufacturer areas.
Ms. Cohen’s practice focuses on major healthcare insurers, pharmaceutical entities, and financial institutions in complex, high-stakes civil litigation and regulatory, enforcement, and business matters. She is regarded for her experience in litigating and investigating risk adjustment matters for Medicare Advantage and Commercial exchange plans under the Affordable Care Act. She also has specialized knowledge of the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, diagnosis coding guidance, and federal and state regulations governing pharmacy benefit managers and drug manufacturers. She has a long record of representing healthcare clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She also has extensive experience in corporate governance litigation, representing a broad range of companies and their directors and officers in securities fraud, breach of duty, derivative, and books and records inspection litigation, in addition to investigating and advising boards of directors on shareholder demands. She has conducted numerous internal employment investigations related to adverse employment actions and whistleblower allegations and advised on separation agreements and potential litigation for breaches of non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality provisions. She also has experience litigating Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases against regulatory bodies. She has represented financial institutions before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, and state attorneys general. She has defended issuers and underwriters in shareholder securities class actions and derivative actions brought in U.S. federal and state courts. She also successfully represented a large public company in an ERISA matter involving an alleged breach of a top-hat benefit plan.
Commenting on her move to Venable, Ms. Cohen said, “Venable stands out for its world-class lawyers, its collegial firm culture, its entrepreneurial spirit, and, above all, a deep commitment to client service.”