Hadden, J. Wayne

Brent J. Gurney is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department, and a member of the Business Trial Group and the Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice Group. He joined the firm in 1999. Mr. Gurney, a former Assistant United States Attorney, focuses on criminal defense, complex civil litigation and internal investigations.

Practice

Mr. Gurney has represented numerous companies and individuals in connection with investigations and prosecutions undertaken by the United States Department of Justice and United States Attorney’s Offices throughout the country.

Mr. Gurney has significant jury trial and other court experience. He recently represented at trial a former regional manager for a medical device manufacturer who was alleged to have participated in a fraudulent off-label marketing scheme. As was extensively reported in the media, shortly after opening statements and testimony from the government's first witness in what was projected to be up to a two month federal jury trial, prosecutors dropped all charges against Mr. Gurney's client, stating it was in the interests of justice to do so, and later stating on the record that it no longer considered Mr. Gurney's client to be a co-conspirator. AmericanLawyer.com called the dismissal "quite the dramatic turn."

Mr. Gurney’s practice includes conducting domestic and international investigations, representing institutional and individual clients in white-collar and other law enforcement matters, and representing clients in complex civil litigation. His litigation experience spans a wide array of areas, including corporate and individual representations. He has handled numerous sensitive internal investigations and other matters for clients in the US, Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East.

Mr. Gurney has been selected for inclusion in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the specialty of Criminal Defense: White-Collar. WilmerHale’s Washington DC white collar practice recently earned a first-tier ranking for the Washington DC area in the inaugural “Best Law Firms” rankings by US News Media Group and Best Lawyers.

Highlights

• Among Mr. Gurney’s substantial jury trials is the jury verdict for IGEN that allowed it to terminate its licensing agreement with Roche, IGEN's key business objective, and awarded $505 million in damages. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sustained the termination right, after which Roche purchased IGEN in a $1.25 billion deal. The $505 million jury verdict, which the Fourth Circuit reduced, ranks fourth in the National Law Journal's top verdicts of 2002.
• Mr. Gurney has been quoted in AmericanLawyer.com, Bloomberg BNA Medical Devices Law & Industry Report, Businessweek.com, FDANEWS.com and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in connection with his representation at trial of the former regional manager for Stryker Biotech who was facing federal felony charges for his alleged participation in an off-label marketing scheme, but which were dismissed by federal prosecutors shortly after opening statements and the government's first witness in the interests of justice. (AmericanLawyer.com, "Government Settles with Stryker Biotech for $15 Million, Drops Charges Against Execs," January 19, 2012; Bloomberg BNA Medical Devices Law & Industry Report, "U.S. Drops Charges Against Last Stryker Biotech Official Remaining in Off-Label Case," February 8, 2012; Businessweek.com, "Stryker Biotech Agrees to Plead Guilty to Misbranding Charge," January 19, 2012; FDANEWS.com, "Last of Individual Charges Dropped in Stryker Off-Label Case," February 13, 2012; MassLawyersWeekly.com, "Defense opening upends gov't case," January 26, 2012.)
• Mr. Gurney was mentioned in a Legal Times article titled, “Flat-Screen Cost Controversy Goes Global,” on March 30, 2009, for his work in what has been called “one of the largest price-fixing cases ever.”
• Represented Purdue Pharma in connection with a lengthy multi-year criminal investigation into the marketing and promotion of the painkiller, OxyContin, by the Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia, the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies.
• Represented former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R. Ariz.) in connection with a Department of Justice and US Attorney’s Office investigation that ended with no finding of wrongdoing. As noted in the June 18, 2007 issue of the Legal Times – under the heading “Wilmer’s Save” – this “marked the second good outcome this year for members of Congress represented by WilmerHale.”

Background

Mr. Gurney previously served as Assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, and was later appointed Deputy Chief for the Southern Division. Mr. Gurney prosecuted, conducted and oversaw grand jury investigations involving money laundering, health care fraud, bank fraud, credit card fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, government contracts fraud, federal income tax evasion, violent crime, narcotics and the Food, Drug & Cosmetics Act. Mr. Gurney also briefed and argued appeals to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Professional Activities

Mr. Gurney presented “Disturbing Developments: Increased Strict Liability Prosecutions of Corporate Officers: The Crime of Doing Nothing” at the FDLI Enforcement and Litigation Conference in Washington DC on October 13, 2010.

Mr. Gurney presented “The Crime of Doing Nothing: Strict Liability for Corporate Officers under FDCA” at the FDLI Enforcement and Litigation Conference in Washington DC on October 13, 2009.

Mr. Gurney also presented “Problems and Pitfalls for In-House Counsel: Personal Liability of Corporate Counsel” at the Personal Care Products Council's 2009 Legal and Regulatory Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 18, 2009.

Mr. Gurney was quoted in The Daily Record on October 5, 2008. He discussed a recent law amending the Federal Rules of Evidence and limiting the circumstances under which attorney-client privilege is waived during discovery in the article, “New Rule Curbs Inadvertent Waiver.”

Mr. Gurney was quoted in the September 30, 2008 article, “Embracing 502, the New Hope for Attorney-Client Privilege,” which appeared in Compliance Week.

Mr. Gurney was quoted in the September 29, 2008 article, “New Discovery Rule to Curb Accidental Privilege Waiver,” which appeared in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, discussing a newly signed law that amends the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Mr. Gurney was quoted in the March 2008 issue of the RPM Report article, “No Walk in the Park: FDA Talks Tough About Executive Accountability” discussing the applicability of the Park Doctrine in strict liability prosecutions in the pharmaceutical industry, under the Food Drug & Cosmetic Act.

Mr. Gurney was quoted in the July 6, 2007 issue of Rx Compliance Report discussing strict liability prosecutions in the pharmaceutical industry under the responsible corporate officer doctrine.

Mr. Gurney was quoted in U.S. News & World Report concerning trends in white-collar crime: “The Crackdown Cracks, Getting tough on corporate crime is so yesterday. The pendulum is swinging back, hitting everyone from gumshoes to judges,” U.S. News & World Report, April 24, 2006 (available at www.usnews.com).

Professional Affiliations

Member, District of Columbia Bar

• Criminal Law and Individual Rights Section
• International Law Section

Member, American Bar Association 

• Criminal Justice Section
• Litigation Section

Member, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Barrister, Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court

Criminal Justice Act Panel Attorney, US District Court for the District of Columbia and US District Court for the District of Maryland