Overview
State governments, their agencies, and the officials who run them face a distinct kind of legal exposure. A federal program audit can become a False Claims Act investigation. A policy decision can draw a Congressional inquiry. A public official can become the subject of a federal probe. These matters carry political and institutional stakes on top of the legal ones, and they require counsel who understands how the federal government investigates and how to resolve a matter without unnecessary public damage.
Fridman Fels & Soto brings senior government experience to this work. Daniel Fridman served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General, advising the second-highest official in the Department on national criminal policy, and as Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud coordinating enforcement across multiple DOJ components and the FBI. The firm's partners are former federal prosecutors who know how charging and resolution decisions are made on the other side of the table.
The firm has represented a U.S. state government, selected through a competitive process, as lead counsel in a False Claims Act investigation brought by the DOJ's Civil Division, and resolved it for a fraction of the government's original demand. The firm also represents, pro bono under its rule-of-law and democracy-protection initiative, nonprofit organizations targeted in a Congressional inquiry. This is work the firm takes seriously, on both the defense and the public-integrity side.
Our Approach
We begin by understanding the institution: how the agency or office operates, what the federal government is actually alleging, and where the legal exposure and the political exposure diverge. A resolution that is legally sound but institutionally damaging is not a good result for a government client, so we build strategy around both.
We engage the government early and directly. Former prosecutors know that the most effective work often happens before a case is filed or a demand is finalized, by presenting the facts, challenging the theory, and narrowing the matter. That early engagement is how the firm resolved a state False Claims Act investigation for a fraction of the original demand.
We manage the public and inter-branch dimensions carefully. Matters involving public officials and government bodies can attract press and oversight attention, and the legal strategy has to account for that without compromising the defense.
