Thea Porter focuses her practice in the areas of white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation, representing corporations, executives, professionals and private individuals in criminal and civil matters in both federal and state courts.
Thea's cases and matters have included allegations of employer immigration violations, wage and hour violations, social security fraud, wire and mail fraud, healthcare fraud, and securities fraud. She has also been involved in defending homicide and assault and battery offenses in state courts. Additionally, Thea has represented clients in enforcement actions undertaken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"), the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA"), and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination ("MCAD").
Before joining LibbyHoopes in March 2007, Thea was a litigation associate at Day Pitney, LLP. During her tenure at Day Pitney, Thea was a co-director of the Child Health Advocacy Partnership, a venture of the East Boston Community Health Center, the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children and Day Pitney, which teams doctors with attorneys to provide legal information and advocacy to underprivileged families.
Representative Cases:
• Represented a large-scale New Bedford, Massachusetts manufacturing company, and its president-owner, in connection with the resolution of allegations of federal and state administrative agency violations, as well as federal criminal and civil charges resulting from a March, 2007 "worksite enforcement" raid, conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency of the Department of Homeland Security.
• Represented a top executive of a global money management firm, in connection with an SEC-Boston enforcement action alleging violations of federal securities laws..
• Co-counsel in successfully defending a national nursing home corporation against charges, brought by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, of involuntary manslaughter, neglect of a resident and Medicaid fraud. This success came first, in the form of a favorable decision in a preliminary appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, on an issue of first impression regarding corporate criminal liability, and then later, before a jury, which returned a verdict of not guilty.
• Represented executives and managers of nationally known pharmaceutical and medical device companies in connection with various federal grand jury investigations and federal criminal prosecutions related to so-called "false statements," "kick-backs" and "off-label" activities.
• Represented an employee of Stryker Biotech in a major health care fraud trial in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Prosecutors dismissed the felony conspiracy and fraud charges after the trial was already underway. The company had also been a defendant in the case.
Thea is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, during which time she clerked for United States District Judge Martin Jenkins, the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Criminal Section, and the Office of the United States Attorney in Boston, Massachusetts.
Prior to studying law, Thea received a cum laude degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
From 2008 – 2011, Thea has been named a Rising Star in New England in the area of white collar criminal defense by Super Lawyers, a joint publication of Boston Magazine and Law & Politics.
Thea is admitted to the Massachusetts state bar, and is a member of the American, Massachusetts, Boston, and Women's Bar Associations.
