Green, Karen F.

Karen Green is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy and Securities Departments and a member of the Investigations and Criminal Litigation and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Groups. She also serves on the Steering Committee of the firm’s Life Sciences Group. She joined the firm in 1982. Ms. Green served as co-chair of WilmerHale's Litigation Department from 2004 to 2007, and as chair of Hale and Dorr’s Litigation Department from 2002-2004.

Practice

Ms. Green's practice concentrates on complex business litigation, including the defense of white-collar criminal and False Claims Act litigation. She has extensive experience representing companies, particularly within the health care industry, in parallel civil and criminal proceedings alleging: violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the Export Control Act; health care fraud; securities fraud; government contracting fraud; consumer fraud; conspiracy; and mail and wire fraud. At the request of corporate clients, she also has conducted internal investigations.

From 1994 to 1996, Ms. Green was the first assistant US attorney for the federal District of Massachusetts. She supervised the litigation of civil cases involving the United States, including United States of America ex rel Mary Jane R. Backman v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Inc. She also oversaw the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases, including United States v. John Salvi, United States v. Ferber, and the Charlestown "Code of Silence" case. In addition, she led the office's civil and criminal health care fraud enforcement program and served on the Department of Justice's National Health Care Fraud Working Group.

Ms. Green first joined legacy Hale and Dorr as a litigation associate in 1982. From 1984 through 1986, she served as an assistant US attorney in the Civil Division of the US Attorney's Office in Boston. She was appointed deputy chief of the Civil Division in June of 1986, and successfully obtained summary judgment on behalf of the EPA in a lawsuit that compelled the cleanup of Boston Harbor. In January of 1987, Ms. Green returned to Hale and Dorr. She was elected to junior partnership in 1988, and to senior partnership in 1990.

In 1993, Ms. Green was appointed chief of staff to Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld. She co-chaired governor-elect William F. Weld's transition team for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in late 1990 and early 1991.

Ms. Green is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the US Supreme Court.

Ms. Green received her JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Following law school, she served as a law clerk to US District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity, Jr.

Recent Highlights

As select examples, Ms. Green has represented:

• a major pharmaceutical company in parallel criminal and civil investigations by the US Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia for alleged off-label promotion and improper payments to physicians in connection with the marketing of six drugs, and assisted it in globally resolving those investigations, four related qui tam actions brought under federal and state law, and related administrative claims of various federal agencies, including the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General;
• a medical device manufacturer in a grand jury investigation by the US Attorney for the District of New Jersey and assisted it in globally resolving the government’s criminal, civil and administrative claims;
• a major medical device manufacturer in a six-year, grand jury investigation by the United States Attorney's Office in Boston into the distribution of an allegedly adulterated and misbranded stent delivery system; the matter was resolved on a civil basis and neither the company nor two officers, who had been designated as targets, were indicted;
• a defense contractor in a qui tam action, which was dismissed with prejudice, under the False Claims Act;
• a third party billing company in parallel civil and criminal investigations by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York of alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud;
• a supplier of durable medical equipment in a grand jury investigation by the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida of alleged Medicare fraud;
• multiple former employees in parallel civil and criminal investigations in the District of Massachusetts of alleged off-label marketing of a drug;
• an office products supplier in a qui tam False Claims Act suit filed in the District of Columbia allegedly arising from the sale of office supplies to the US government that originated from impermissible countries under the Buy American Act;
• a medical device manufacturer in an investigation by the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts arising from the sale of allegedly defective blood analyzers to the US Army;
• a medical device manufacturer in an investigation by the US Attorney for the District of Columbia of alleged violations of the Export Control Act;
• a printed circuit board manufacturer in a criminal case charging violations of the federal Clean Water Act;
• the former President and CEO of a health insurer in a federal grand jury investigation; 
• a company's former CEO and director in parallel civil, criminal and Congressional investigations of alleged improprieties in government contracting;
• a national retailer in parallel civil and criminal proceedings alleging bankruptcy and mail fraud; and
• various companies in corporate internal investigations.

Professional Activities

Ms. Green is a director of CareGroup, Inc., a fellow and state delegate co-chair of Litigation Counsel of America, a trustee of The Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a Trustee of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a Director of the Harvard Club of Boston and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She formerly served as a director of Fiduciary Trust Company, and as a trustee of The Fenn School. At the request of former Massachusetts Governor Swift, she served on a special commission investigating allegations of inmate abuse and financial mismanagement at the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.

Ms. Green is a member of the Advisory Committee on the rules of practice and internal operating procedures of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. At the request of the courts, she has also served as the vice chair of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, and as a member of the First Circuit Court of Appeals' Gender Bias Committee, the US District Court's Committee to Revise the Local Criminal Rules, and the US District Court's Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution. She also has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council; a director of the Harvard Alumni Association, the Boston Club and the Children's Trust Fund; an instructor in Harvard Law School's Trial Advocacy Workshop and the United States Attorney General's Advocacy Institute; a member of the Boston Bar Association Council; a trustee of the Boston Bar Foundation; and chair of the Boston Bar Association's Federal Practice and Procedure Committee.

Honors and Awards

• Selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 in the area of white-collar criminal defense
• In the 2011-2012 Best Law Firm rankings by U.S. News and Best Lawyers, Ms. Green is described by a client as "very bright, knowledgeable, and direct."
• Recognized as a leader in litigation, specifically in white-collar crime and government investigations, in each edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business since 2005
• Selected in 2011 as one of “Top Women of Law” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
• Listed as a "leading lawyer" in the field of government enforcement & investigations law by the PLC Cross-border Life Sciences Handbook, 2009/2010
• Selected for inclusion in The International Who's Who of Business Crime Lawyers in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012
• Listed in the summer 2006 edition of Lawdragon magazine for her work on behalf of pharmaceutical, medical device and other health care companies
• Named a "New England Super Lawyer" (formerly "Massachusetts Super Lawyer") in white-collar criminal defense in the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 issues of Boston Magazine. Ranked among the "Top 50 Female Massachusetts Super Lawyers" in 2004 and 2006, and as one of the "Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyers" in 2004 and 2005
• Honoree, Granada House Annual Dinner, 2002, for pro bono legal work on behalf of group home for disabled persons
• Recipient of the 2001 Women's Business Hall of Fame Award in the professional category
• Recipient of the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council, Inc.'s Leading Women 2000 Award
• Recipient of the Park Street Forum's Award for Outstanding Service to the City of Boston in 1997
• Profiled as one of Boston's Top Women Lawyers, The Boston Globe, 1996