NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED EXPERTS

NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FALSE CLAIMS ACT EXPERTS

Unmatched real world experience in healthcare auditing and defense contracting

WARREN | BENSON LAW GROUP has unmatched success in setting qui tam national precedents, and is also the national leader in successful qui tam cases. Additionally, the firm has substantial real world experience in healthcare auditing and defense contracting issues, that is unparalleled by any other whistleblower firm.

Our firm knows how to play hard ball against the political power wielded by big business
qui tam defendants

Don’t underestimate the political power of big corporations to circumvent the courts. When stripped of a legal defense, big business defendants use their political power to kill qui tam cases by lobbying directly to the executive and legislative branches of government. WARREN | BENSON has unprecedented success in defeating powerful health care and defense contractor lobbying of federal government agencies. The firm's efforts for its clients are unmatched and include representation of its clients in meetings with the Office of the Vice President of the United States, the Solicitor General of the United States, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Pentagon representatives and members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Many of our cases have been the centerpiece of Senate and Congressional hearings to stop corporate defendants who think they are above the law.

Our Reputation for Success and Integrity

By having a national reputation for success and integrity with government counsel, the firm is able to work closely with the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. and its trial lawyers in the case preparation and prosecution, to achieve results.

The Firm’s Attorneys

PHILLIP E. BENSON

Phil Benson graduated with honors from UCLA in 1978 and received his juris doctorate from Santa Clara University in 1980. Between 1981 and 1986, Mr. Benson served as an Air Force JAG officer and as a chief military prosecutor, where he obtained extensive “real world” experience with government contracts and developed a specialty in Defense Department contracting issues, including Foreign Military Sales and the Truth In Negotiations Act.  He also worked closely with the Justice Department in federal Tort Claims Act litigation.

Mr. Benson began his private practice in 1986 and established his reputation as a fighter for his clients, with an exceptionally successful trial record in the Federal and State courts, including the successful six month trial defense of members of a notorious motorcycle club against trumped-up murder conspiracy charges in one of the longest federal criminal trials in history.

Since 1989, from offices located in both Alaska and California, Mr. Benson has devoted his professional practice exclusively to the representation of whistleblowers under the Federal False Claims Act, where his cases have been cited hundreds of times by Courts throughout the nation. Mr. Benson is nationally recognized as a leading expert in the area of qui tam litigation, and was one of the original attorneys in the nation at the cutting edge of establishing case law precedents and recoveries under the modern version of the False Claims Act. His victories have included the largest whistleblower retaliation jury verdict in history, and national records for the largest qui tam recoveries of their kind. He has been selected as a featured speaker in numerous qui tam seminars on both the East and West coasts, and has successfully fought for his clients against some of the world’s most powerful national and multi-national corporations.

Mr. Benson is admitted to practice law in California and Alaska and before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit and the Armed Forces, and the United States District Courts of Alaska, California and the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Because of his wide-ranging clients across the nation, he has also appeared pro hac vice in courts throughout the United States.

DONALD R. WARREN

Don Warren graduated with honors from the University of Texas (Arlington) in 1974. Prior to law school, he gained hands on experience specializing in healthcare and fraud auditing as a CPA in an international accounting firm. Mr. Warren received his juris doctorate cum laude from Baylor University School of Law in 1981, where he was the mock trial champion and executive editor of the Law Review. In the first portion of his legal career, he gained an exceptionally successful trial record trying complex cases as a lead trial partner in one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he was regularly called upon to take over other attorneys’ difficult cases headed to trial.

Since 1989, he has specialized in representing plaintiffs and whistleblowers in business fraud and Medicare and Defense Dept. fraud qui tam cases. As such, Mr. Warren was a name partner in the West Coast firm of Monaghan & Warren, whose results included more than $100 million in verdicts and recoveries for its clients, including the largest verdict in California in 1997. For more than 15 years, Mr. Warren has successfully prosecuted qui tam cases against some of the world's most powerful conglomerates, including more than 100 research hospitals, Blue Cross, Northrop, MCI, Sprint, Boeing and Litton in the United States, and multi-national corporations headquartered in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Sweden. Mr. Warren’s victories have set national records for the largest qui tam recoveries of their kind. With an established reputation for success against the country’s largest law firms, his many legal precedents have been cited hundreds of times by Courts throughout the nation.

In 1989, Mr. Warren was recognized as one of the nation's preeminent trial lawyers and was inducted into the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates into which less than 1% of attorneys are admitted. In 1999, Mr. Warren was honored by the nation’s top lawyers as statewide president of the American Board for all of California. In 2005, Mr. Warren became one of only a handful of attorneys in the nation to have received the distinction of Life Fellow of the American Board.

Mr. Warren was featured in “Legends of the Courtroom” and “Masters in Trial” by the State Bar of California and the American Board, and is nationally recognized as a leading expert in qui tam cases. In addition to being selected a featured speaker at national qui tam presentations on both the East and West coasts, Mr. Warren has also been selected by the Justice Department as a lecturer in numerous qui tam seminars.

Mr. Warren is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeal for the Second Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Eighth Circuit, and Ninth Circuit, and the United States District Courts of California and Texas. In representing clients nationwide, he has also been admitted pro hac vice in many federal courts throughout the United States. Mr. Warren has successfully tried more than 50 civil jury trials to verdict and has handled cases in more than 30 states.

SALLIE A. ESTEP

Sallie Estep graduated with honors from UCLA in 1979, and received her juris doctorate as an honors graduate from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1982. Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Estep was a briefing attorney for the Federal Court in the Southern District of California, where she gained hands on experience in the judicial perspective of complex litigation. Ms. Estep has more than 20 years of litigation experience, including more than a decade of involvement in extensive False Claims Act qui tam cases.

JESSE L. YOUNG

Jesse Young, of counsel, is a 1984 graduate of Golden Gate University School of Law. Mr. Young is one of the early pioneers in False Claims Act litigation. Mr. Young began representing qui tam plaintiffs in 1986, and has been involved in some of the largest and most successful defense contractor cases in the nation.