Jim Webster is an experienced trial lawyer in complex civil and criminal cases. His record of success in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations throughout the country is rare. After obtaining guilty verdicts in more than a dozen trials in four years as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore, Jim returned to Kellogg Hansen, where he represents plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes, high-dollar civil cases. On a number of occasions, he has been retained to take the lead of cases as they approached trial.
For instance, as lead trial counsel for the State of Florida in a case against Walgreens concerning its responsibility for the opioid crisis in the state, Jim’s team secured a $683 million settlement from Walgreens after a four-week trial. In another high-stakes case involving Medicare and Medicaid fraud, Jim led a team of Kellogg Hansen lawyers who obtained a historic $374 million verdict. This represents one of the largest jury verdicts ever recorded for a False Claims Act case.
Among his notable representations of defendants, Jim served as the lead trial counsel for 45 states and territories in an arbitration filed by the major tobacco companies seeking billions of dollars for alleged violations of the Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco companies and those states and territories. In addition, Jim was lead trial counsel for the Middle Atlantic Sports Network ("MASN") in an arbitration dispute worth hundreds of millions of dollars in broadcast rights fees and profits owed to the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals.
In his white-collar practice, Jim has represented witnesses in the Mueller investigation and other significant matters. He has successfully defended both corporations and individuals throughout the world in investigations and prosecutions concerning charges of price-fixing and other antitrust violations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 violations, tax fraud, securities fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, bribery, and more.