Berg & Androphy

Attorney Sarah M. Frazier

Sarah Frazier In The News

Practice Areas:
Qui Tam Litigation
White Collar Defense
Commercial Litigation
Civil Litigation
Personal Injury

Background:

Sarah M. Frazier has a nationwide practice that includes qui tam suits representing whistleblowers, white collar criminal defense, and commercial law. She is currently pursuing several qui tam suits, many still under seal, on subjects ranging from war profiteering to Medicaid kickbacks to best price violations, pending in jurisdictions across the United States. Ms. Frazier was named a Texas Rising Star by her peers in 2007, 2008 and 2009 as published in Texas Monthly magazine. She lectures frequently on both qui tam and criminal law. Ms. Frazier recently presented a webinar entitled, “Prosecuting and Defending Qui Tam Cases Under the False Claims Act: What It Takes to be Successful,” sponsored by the Law Journal Press. Her past experience includes:

• With Joel Androphy, represented one of the nine whistleblowers and won a settlement with Eli Lilly in a civil qui tam action in U.S. District Court. The case involved off-label marketing of the drug Zyprexa. This civil settlement netted the government and all whistleblowers about $750 million. The government will also receive an additional $600 million in criminal fines.
• One of two lead attorneys for a $2 million settlement of a qui tam case involving rampant fraudulent Medicare billing by a supplier of durable medical equipment. Settlement was accomplished without Department of Justice intervention and despite company’s plummeting stock prices.
• Represented physician in federal criminal misbranding prosecution tried to jury twice, resulting first in a hung jury, then in a conviction overturned on appeal.
• Successfully argued to full panel of Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for reversal of district court order denying DNA testing in a capital case.
• Defended Houston business in commercial litigation concerning commissions and proceeds from sale of business, resulting in award of complete summary judgment to defendant, upheld on appeal.
• Represented individual in pre-indictment federal anti-trust investigation, resulting in Department of Justice decision not to pursue criminal charges against client.
• Represented international energy company in commercial dispute regarding business interruption at a gasification plant, resulting in summary judgment and ultimately dismissal of suit.
• Represented international beer brewer in a commercial dispute over a putative brewing contract, handling mediation that resulted in favorable settlement.
• Defended international energy company in royalty dispute, drafting summary judgment briefing that led to a “walk away” resolution.

Before joining Berg & Androphy, Ms. Frazier was associated with international law firm King & Spalding LLP, where she worked primarily on complex commercial cases, including tort and energy-related litigation.

Education and Judicial Clerkship:

• Vanderbilt University College of Law, Nashville, Tennessee
  J.D. Doctor of Jurisprudence, 1999
  Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Research Editor
• Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania
  B.A., Bachelor of Arts, Religion, 1994
• Clerk to the Honorable Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina, 1999-2000

Bar Admissions:

• Texas
• Georgia
• Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas
• Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Publications:
Federal Criminal White Collar Appellate Update, The Appellate Advocate, State Bar of Texas Appellate Section Update, since Fall of 2007.

Note, “Liberty of Expression in Ireland and the Need for a Constitutional Law of Defamation” 32 J. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 391 (March 1999).