Serving as Local Counsel to Out-of-State Law Firms with Matters Pending in Massachusetts
Because of our reputation, experience, resources and focus on litigation, out-of-state law firms large and small regularly call on Fitch to serve as local counsel when they have matters pending in Massachusetts, including lawsuits in our state and federal courts. (We have even served as local counsel to a national law firm that has a Boston office.) We are glad to fill the specific role that meets the needs of lead counsel in a particular case. Sometimes this involves our providing traditional local-counsel services, such as advising on local laws, rules, customs and personalities; assisting with court filings and service of pleadings; covering court appearances; and hosting depositions. Often we are asked to play a more substantive role, actively participating with lead counsel in the representation of the client in the lawsuit.
The lawyers who lead our local counsel practice are Peter Ball, Stephen Reilly and Jonathan Fitch. View their individual profiles for more information about them.
Following is a small sample of the cases where we have served as local counsel:
- Representing a pharmaceutical company in a federal False Claims Act lawsuit alleging hundreds-of-millions of dollars or more in damages
- Representing a pharmaceutical company in a civil action brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office alleging Medicaid fraud based on the client's purported overstating of the Average Wholesale Price ("AWP") of its products
- Representing plaintiff and defendant corporations in patent-infringement cases
- Representing a corporate defendant in a class-action Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") case
- Representing an employee of a pharmaceutical company in an indicted federal criminal case alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO")
- Representing a for-profit professional school in an investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office into alleged consumer fraud
- Representing an electric utility company in an insurance-coverage case relating to the remediation of contaminated sites
- Representing a corporate defendant in a claim for coverage under a Pollution-Liability insurance policy
- Representing product manufacturers in a consumer class-action lawsuit
- Representing a pharmaceutical company in a trademark dispute
- Representing companies in employment-law cases
- Assisting an out-of-state law firm in obtaining discovery in Massachusetts relating to a contested divorce action pending in another state
- Assisting an out-of-state law firm in obtaining discovery in Massachusetts in aid of an international arbitration
