Steven H. Cohen

Steven H. Cohen has been practicing law in Chicago since 1979 and representing whistleblowers since 1995. A native New Yorker, Steve is a graduate of Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.  Steve received his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1979.  After law school, Steve served as legislative counsel and director to Representative Benjamin Rosenthal (D-NY) in Washington D.C. from 1980 to 1982. 

From 1982-2000, Steve was in private practice in Chicago as a commercial litigator, concentrating on class actions, shareholders’ rights litigation, securities, business, and consumer fraud.  In the mid-1990s, he became interested in the emerging area of false claims and qui tam litigation, and began representing whistleblowers under the federal False Claims Act.

In 2001, Steve founded the Cohen Law Group, where he has dedicated his law practice to representing whistleblowers in qui tam cases. Steve has investigated and prosecuted sealed and unsealed qui tam cases spanning the spectrum of health care and other government program fraud.

In 2003, Steve co-founded the Whistleblower Action Network, an alliance of lawyers who investigate and prosecute qui tam lawsuits on behalf of whistleblowers.  Today, Steve and the other Network attorneys are co-counsel in numerous pending investigations and cases throughout the country, some of which are under seal as required by the federal and state false claims statutes.

In February 2008, Steve and his co-counsel represented the whistleblower in United States ex rel. Steinke v. Merck in which the federal government and all 50 states recovered over $400 million dollars. For more information about this case, visit www.drugfraudsettlement.com.  Among his most recent honors, Steve and his co-counsel were awarded the 2008 Lawyers of the Year Award by the public interest organization, Taxpayers Against Fraud. In September 2008, the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units invited Steve to be the first representative of the qui tam bar to speak at its national meeting.

Steve regularly speaks to industry, labor, academic and professional groups about the public-private coordinated anti-fraud enforcement efforts under the false claims/qui tam laws.  At the request of the U.S. Department of State, International Visitors Leadership Program, he has spoken to attorneys and legislators from Latin America and the Czech Republic.  He has also recently presented to AFCSME, the Illinois Physicians Association, the American Bar Association, and the Beasley Institute for Health Law and Policy, Loyola University School of Law.

In addition to his legal work, Steve is active in pro bono activities and community service.  Steve is an adjunct faculty member at the Northwestern University Law School teaching clinical trial advocacy to second and third year law students. Steve also counsels law students on alternatives to private law firm employment.

Steve sits on a number of academic, non-profit and foundation Boards. Steve is a Trustee for Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin and serves on the Student Affairs, Development and Audit Committees.  He is also a Trustee for the Chicago School of Professional Psychology as well as the TCS Education System. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Mikva Challenge Foundation, a Chicago based organization that engages Chicago area high school students in local and national political elections. Steve also sits on the Advisory Board of the Taxpayers Against Fraud a Washington D.C. based watchdog organization, on the Executive Committee for the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University and the Chicago Advisory Board of Facing History and Ourselves. Steve also runs a family foundation which has as its mission to fund social justice internships through non-profit organizations in the education field.

Steve is active in local and national political campaigns. Steve was a member of the Obama For America National Finance Committee in the 2008 Presidential Election.  After the election, Steve was appointed as an advisor to the Department of Justice Agency Review Transition Team for qui tam/False Claims Act issues.