Given to twenty lawyers under the age of 40, Marcus is being recognized for his achievements in representing whistleblowers in False Claims Act cases.
Today, I am proud to announce that I have been selected by the Fulton County Daily Report (the newspaper for the Georgia legal community) as a On The Rise award recipient.
The Daily Report’s On The Rise program recognizes Georgia’s most promising lawyers under the age of 40, as selected by a panel of esteemed lawyers. This annual award is given to just twenty lawyers in the entire state.
A Rare Honor for Qui Tam Attorneys
I cannot overstate how surprised I am to have received this honor. Past and current award recipients include all types of lawyers: plaintiff, defense, corporate, real estate, in-house counsel, public interest, civil rights, state and federal government, politicians, and even judges.
Being chosen as just one of twenty among the thousands of young lawyers in the entire state is an incredible honor, one that I am privileged to share with a number of attorneys that I very much admire and respect.
Moreover, I have long assumed that obtaining such recognition was not likely for a qui tam lawyer. When I first started representing whistleblowers in False Claims Act cases in 2008, it became pretty apparent that this was not an area that garnered a lot of attention. Very few of my attorney friends had even heard of the False Claims Act or qui tam law, let alone my non-lawyer friends.
Successful False Claims Act attorneys may have just two or three settlements per year. It is difficult to get noticed when your cases are so few and take so many years to litigate.
We practice in federal courts throughout the country, where cases are litigated through the written word and rarely through oral argument. Therefore, our local colleagues do not generally see us in action. Or, if they do, it is likely to have been on just one case.
Many qui tam lawyers never take even a single False Claims Act case to trial. We work quietly in the shadows, writing briefs and settling cases, without making the big in-court splashes that your average trial attorney might.
Thirteen years after I entered the field, there are still only about 400 members of the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, otherwise known as the “qui tam bar.”
But word has started to spread about the False Claims Act. Much like the gold prospectors in the 1800s, many lawyers without any real False Claims Act experience have begun advertising themselves as whistleblower attorneys in hopes that the government will intervene and settle their case for a big payday.
The number of False Claims Act cases filed and settled grows annually, as more and more attorneys “dabble” in this difficult practice area.
Thus, I remain astonished and humbled that I was able to break through all the noise to be recognized by a panel of some of Atlanta’s finest lawyers.
Bracker & Marcus – A Nationally Recognized False Claims Act Law Firm
But really, it is Bracker & Marcus LLC that is “on the rise.” I won’t pretend to be modest when it comes to my law firm. We are a sleeping giant.
Since opening our doors in 2015, we have been one of the most prolific whistleblower firms in the nation, filing 86 qui tams and negotiating 38 settlements. As more than half of our cases have been filed since 2019, we are expecting to make a lot of noise in the coming years.
In 2020, we added two experienced False Claims Act attorneys, and we may not be done, as we have never been busier. And we have done it all while continuing to receive rave reviews from our clients.
Although most False Claims Act lawyers have never been to trial, we have two qui tam cases and a whistleblower retaliation case that are heading for trial in the next six months (pandemic willing). We have put in the work that many firms are unwilling to put in, and we have the experience (and good results) to show for it.
And both Julie and I have been recognized as trailblazers by the qui tam community. We are regularly invited to speak at conferences and on webinars, and we have been placed in leadership positions with Taxpayers Against Fraud, the Federal Bar Association, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.
We know a lot about the False Claims Act, we file a lot of good cases, we litigate more of them than many of our colleagues, and we treat our clients, the government, and opposing counsel with respect. Our time is coming.
Expect to be hearing a lot more from the Atlanta whistleblower attorneys at Bracker & Marcus LLC over the next decade.