Niall P. McCarthy, a Partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and Santa Clara University School of Law. He has practiced with the firm since 1992.
Niall has been named a Top 100 attorney in California many times by the Daily Journal and by Super Lawyers Magazine, as well as being repeatedly named to the Daily Journal's “Top Plaintiffs' Lawyers” list. Niall has received multiple California Lawyer Magazine Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Awards, most recently in 2019. He has the highest possible rating, AV, from Martindale-Hubbell. Niall was awarded the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award by the San Mateo County Trial Lawyers Association.
Niall has also been elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and the American College of Trial Lawyers. He serves as an officer of the San Francisco ABOTA Chapter.
Niall has represented qui tam Relators in False Claims Act cases in state and federal courts. Niall handled the Hunter Laboratories Litigation in which he negotiated the then-largest False Claims recovery in California history, $301 million. In the mid 1990s, he was the lead attorney in a groundbreaking case brought under the California False Claims Act on behalf of the University of California San Francisco with respect to direct and overhead costs to the university. In 2015, he was the lead attorney for the whistleblower in a qui tam case resulting in a $75.5 million settlement with technology industry giant, VMware. In 2018, Niall resolved a qui tam action against British Petroleum for $117 million. Niall has extensive experience pursuing false claims cases arising out of fraud against the government. He coauthored the articles “Qui Tam Litigation, A Primer for the General Litigator,” “Answering the Call: Attacking Healthcare Fraud with the False Claims Act,” “Recent Developments in False Claims and Healthcare Litigation,” and “False Claims Act Fundamentals.” He has worked with the Department of Justice and Attorneys General offices throughout the United States on False Claims cases.
