Whistleblower Law Collaborative is pleased to announce that Boston Magazine has named attorneys Bob Thomas, Suzanne Durrell, Linda Severin, David W. S. Lieberman, and Erica Blachman Hitchings as Top Whistleblower Lawyers of 2024. The list recognizing the honorees is now available.
To compile its guide of the region’s most prominent legal minds, Boston Magazine invited lawyers to nominate their peers. An advisory board of select lawyers then reviewed the top vote getters in each specialty.
Firm Attorneys Honored as 2024 Top Whistleblower Lawyers
- Robert M. Thomas, Jr. – is a co-founder and managing member of Whistleblower Law Collaborative. Bob has been representing whistleblowers for over 20 years with co-founder, Suzanne Durrell. Previously, Bob served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, focusing primarily on the prosecution of white-collar fraud matters and environmental crimes. While an AUSA, Bob earned the EPA Bronze Medal for his contribution to the prosecution of a landmark criminal Clean Water Act case. Bob has been an Adjunct Professor at Boston University School of Law since 2011.
- Suzanne E. Durrell – is co-founder and managing member of Whistleblower Law Collaborative. Suzanne served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as Deputy Chief, and then Chief, Civil Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. She was instrumental in developing that Office’s renowned False Claims Act practice. While there, she prosecuted many notable FCA cases including several qui tam cases against National Medicare Care, Inc. (Fresenius), which resulted in a then record-breaking $486 million civil and criminal settlement. Since 2003, she has represented whistleblower clients with Bob Thomas, including in several record-breaking cases such as settlements with Amgen, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, and Mylan. Recently, Suzanne was recognized by Best Lawyers®for Qui Tam Law and Health Care Law for 2025. In addition, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly named Suzanne a Top Woman of Law in 2023.
- Linda C. Severin – is a managing member of the Whistleblower Law Collaborative. Before joining the firm, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, was in private practice in Seattle doing white collar defense work, and worked in-house at a Fortune 100 corporation. Her whistleblower successes include the $234 million Mallinckrodt settlement and a $13 million settlement with BioTel and LifeWatch.
- David W. S. Lieberman – has handled several major False Claims Act litigations. These include United States ex rel. Hendrix v. J-M Manufacturing Co., filed against the world’s largest municipal water pipe maker, and United States ex rel. Doe v. CleanSlate Centers. He prosecuted the CleanSlate case along with the Massachusetts Attorney General against a chain of opioid treatment centers. David’s recent whistleblower successes include settlements against CleanSlate Centers, DermaTran, Cardinal Health, and Arthrex.
- Erica Blachman Hitchings – spent nine years investigating and litigating a wide range of False Claims Act cases at the Department of Justice. At DOJ, Erica was a member of a procurement fraud litigation team that recovered over $250 million for numerous technology and consulting companies. She also handled several healthcare fraud matters, including two cutting-edge Medicare Advantage fraud investigations. Since joining WLC in 2019, Erica has brought her government experience to bear in representing whistleblowers reporting fraud and suffering from retaliation in their employment. This includes a qui tam action against a Massachusetts-based fuel company that recovered $850,000 for the Commonwealth. Erica will be included in the 2025 edition of Best Lawyers in America® for Employment Law-Individuals.
Whistleblower Law Collaborative
Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC, based in Boston, devotes its practice entirely to representing clients nationwide in bringing actions under the federal and state False Claims Acts and other whistleblower programs. Under the False Claims Act, a private citizen (known as a “relator”) who suspects or knows of fraud against the government can act as a whistleblower and file a sealed complaint on behalf of the government. Successful cases entitle the relator to a share of the government’s recovery. Among the firm’s many successes is the governments’ $465 million settlement with Mylan.
For more information, contact Whistleblower Law Collaborative at 617.366.2800.
