Sara uses her decades of DOJ experience to provide compliance counseling and representation to clients facing False Claims Act (FCA) and other civil fraud issues, investigations and litigation. She offers her deep knowledge of the law and the government’s approach to these cases to help clients avoid risks and navigate these matters to a favorable result, whether that be a declination or dismissal by DOJ of a qui tam complaint filed under the FCA’s whistleblower provisions, a self-disclosure, a settlement or a win in litigation.

Prior to joining Akin, Sara worked in the Civil Fraud Section at DOJ, which leads nationwide civil fraud enforcement, as Assistant Director for sixteen years and Trial Attorney for ten years. She handled and supervised all aspects of FCA and civil fraud investigations.

Sara negotiated and oversaw scores of settlements and won victories at every phase of litigation, including summary judgment, trial and appeal, securing approximately $2 billion in recoveries. She trained DOJ attorneys on settlement and developed language used in DOJ settlement agreements. 

Her DOJ civil fraud practice ran the gamut of government programs and agencies. One focus was health care fraud matters, including alleged Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Act violations and other alleged overbilling. She led DOJ’s civil cyber-fraud enforcement efforts involving data privacy and other alleged cybersecurity violations. She handled and supervised matters alleging contract and grant fraud, mineral royalty underpayments and mortgage fraud, as well as claims against universities and for trade-related violations.

Sara began her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable John W. Bissell in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.