With more than 10 years of experience practicing in state and federal courts, Abby focuses her practice on white collar criminal matters, government investigations, corporate internal investigations and complex civil litigation. Abby routinely represents individuals, publicly traded companies, corporations and financial institutions in a wide variety of matters throughout Illinois and Indiana, and has handled matters before the Department of Justice, SEC, IRS, United States Postal Inspection Service, and various Attorneys General and state regulatory bodies.
Areas of Concentration
· White collar criminal litigation
· Corporate internal investigations and compliance
· Representation of individuals and corporations in grand jury investigations
· Health care fraud
· Criminal theft of trade secrets
· Complex civil and commercial litigation
Significant Representations
White Collar Experience
· Defended senior-level executives, employees, and entities in a wide array of grand jury and regulatory investigations into, for example, alleged antitrust violations, bribery of government purchasing agents, foreign corrupt practices, fraudulent inflation of circulation numbers and failure to disclose taxable offshore accounts.
· Conducted a large-scale internal investigation into Medicare fraud and employee misconduct for a privately held home health care company.
· Defended a Sundance award-winning director and screenwriter charged with attempted extortion; resulted in a year-and-a-day sentence. U.S. v. James, No. 09 CR 596 (N.D. Ill. 2010)
· Defended an Indiana-based pharmacist charged with unlawful distribution of narcotics; resulted in a sentence of probation.
· Defended a product development executive for a large publicly traded company charged with criminal theft of trade secrets. As detailed in Law360, resulted in a 15-month sentence, notwithstanding the Government's request for a sentence of 57 months. U.S. v. Lee, No. 09 CR 290 (N.D. Ill. 2009)
· Defended an Illinois-based psychotherapist in an investigative inquiry before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; resulted in a "no action" letter and closure of the investigation.
· Defended an Indiana-based physician in criminal, regulatory and licensing inquiries relating to prescription drug fraud.
Civil Experience
· Representation of a major financial institution in a suit alleging multistate conspiracy relating to the theft of over $110 million in trust funds.
· Representation of a Fortune 500 engineering firm in a case alleging catastrophic injuries sustained by ironworkers trapped inside a collapsed rebar cage on an Illinois highway project.
· Representation of an employee in successfully defeating her former employer's motion for preliminary injunction alleging trade secret misappropriation and breach of fiduciary duty.
· Ongoing representation of one of the three largest telecommunications companies in the United States in wide variety of civil litigation.
Professional & Community Involvement
· Member, American Bar Association
· Section on Criminal Justice
· White Collar Crime Committee
· Member, Illinois State Bar Association
· Section on Civil Practice and Procedure
· Member, 7th Circuit Bar Association
· Member, The Chicago Inn of Court
· Member, Indiana University Alumni Board, 2010-2013
· Founding Member & Committee Chair, Indiana University Law Society of Chicago
Clerkship
· Law Clerk, Honorable James T. Moody, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, 1999 - 2001
· Law Clerk, Honorable Rudy Lozano, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, April 2004 - June 2004
Articles, Publications, & Lectures
· Mentioned, "Ex-Valspar Chemist Gets 15 Months for Secrets Theft," Law360, December 9, 2010
· Co-author and presenter, "A 'Culture of Waiver': The Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege in White Collar Cases"