Lesley Ann Skillen, Federal Crimes Attorney in New York

Lesley Ann Skillen is a partner in Getnick & Getnick LLP. She is the coordinator of the firm’s False Claims Act qui tam practice and has been representing qui tam whistleblowers since the early 1990s. Notable cases include a $750 million recovery from GlaxoSmithKline for selling adulterated drugs to Medicaid and other government health programs, a $251 million settlement with Bayer pharmaceuticals for Medicaid “Best Price” fraud and a $182 million recovery from Laboratory Corporation of America for billing Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary blood tests. Ms. Skillen is a frequent speaker on qui tam at bar association events and has written numerous articles on qui tam and business integrity related issues, including articles published in the New York Times, the New York Law Journal, and Pharmaceutical Executive magazine. She is a past Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Qui Tam Subcommittee and Co-Chair of the Best Practices Committee of Taxpayers Against Fraud, a Washington, D.C. based non-partisan public interest organization supporting the False Claims Act. Ms. Skillen joined Getnick & Getnick LLP in 1992 after completing a Churchill Fellowship examining advanced civil remedies for complex corporate fraud. She has more than 25 years’ experience investigating and prosecuting cases in that field.

In addition to her qui tam practice, she has conducted internal corporate investigations, business integrity projects and civil fraud litigations for corporate clients, working together with investigators and forensic accountants.

Ms. Skillen has managed independent monitoring projects and played a leading role in the development of the independent monitoring concept. She co-authored the foundation paper on the Independent Private Sector Inspector General (IPSIG) concept in 1993 and was the principal draftsperson of the International Association of IPSIG’s Code of Ethics.

Ms. Skillen is a member of the New York Bar and is admitted to practice in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Northern District of California. Prior to joining Getnick & Getnick LLP, she was the Director of Policy and International Relations for the Australian Securities Commission in Sydney, the national corporate and securities regulatory agency. Between 1983 and 1991, Ms. Skillen was an assistant federal prosecutor and a legal advisor to the Australian National Crime Authority, where she coordinated complex investigations of business and taxation fraud, money laundering and organized crime activity.

Ms. Skillen received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Monash University in Australia in 1974 and her Bachelor of Laws with Honors and Master of Laws degrees from Monash Law School in 1978 and 1983 respectively. She was admitted to the New York bar in 1994.