Chair, White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group
Chair, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice
Phone: 215-587-1057
Fax: 215-587-1444
arein@postschell.com
Focuses on the intersection of technology and the law, advising clients on legal aspects of data security, social media compliance, electronic discovery, and the application of certain constitutional rights in a digital era.
Abraham J. Rein is Chair of the firm's White Collar Defense and Investigations Group and Chair of the firm's Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Group, and Member of the firm's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Over his multi-decade career, he has successfully defended corporate and individual clients facing a broad spectrum of federal and state white-collar concerns including False Claims Act matters, matters revolving around research misconduct, theft of trade secrets, Controlled Substances Act violations, health care fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, among many others. Recently, he has defended several of the nation’s most well-respected scientists and academics in matters involving allegations of ties to foreign governments and misuse of U.S. information.
Mr. Rein's clients come from a variety of industries, including academia, health care, pharmaceutical, medical device, hospitality, insurance, financial services, securities, communications, defense, and transportation. They include individuals, companies, boards, financial institutions, asset managers, and senior executives, whom he represents on the full spectrum of regulatory, enforcement, and litigation matters. Recent matters successfully involved the False Claims Act, research and trade secret misconduct, securities regulation, and insider trading.
Importantly for his clients, Mr. Rein is the Chair of the Federal Criminal Law Committee for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which includes many of the area’s top white collar and other criminal defense lawyers. As such, he is well-versed in the quickly evolving enforcement landscape and the government’s current priority focus. Consequently, he is the go-to lawyer for clients needing a steady advocate who is “in the enforcement know," with decades of expertise achieving positive resolutions for his clients’ high-stakes matters.
White Collar Defense and Investigations
Mr. Rein defends clients facing government scrutiny of all forms, ranging in scope from securities regulation to insider trading, False Claims Act, health care fraud, research or other academic misconduct, and complex regulatory matters. He also assists companies with internal investigations, whether prompted by a government inquiry, a purported whistleblower, or otherwise.
Mr. Rein’s recent successes include convincing the Federal government, 29 state and local governments, and a whistleblower to drop a False Claims Act complaint accusing a nonprofit of violating the Medicaid rules; obtaining a short probationary sentence for an individual charged with impersonating patients in communications with insurance companies; and guiding a Fortune 10 pharmaceutical distributor through complex Pennsylvania-centric litigation over its distribution of opioids.
Representation of Academics and Researchers
In the academic setting, Mr. Rein has particular expertise representing professors and other academics and researchers accused of misconduct surrounding use of proprietary information, including theft of trade secrets, research misconduct, and funding-related misconduct.
Among other things, he has helped multiple professors, under criminal and civil investigation over allegations of concealing ties to foreign governments, convince federal law enforcement to decline criminal prosecution and forgo civil action. He has also represented academics faced with allegations of participating in or turning a blind eye to research misconduct on federally funded projects, helping them avoid adverse action.
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
Mr. Rein defends companies who are facing high-stakes litigation over cybersecurity or privacy missteps. He also counsels clients on how to ensure compliance with their cybersecurity and data privacy obligations, including walking them through the steps following a breach.
Mr. Rein’s recent successes include securing a complete, pre-discovery dismissal of the complaint in a putative class action alleging the theft of an untold number of credit card numbers, and the helping a healthcare client, under difficult circumstances and time pressure, through maintaining its HealthIT certification in the face of a threatened lifetime ban.
Prior to his career in law, Mr. Rein co-founded and served as a managing partner of a small web development firm, and he knows what means to have practical needs that narrow legal advice cannot unscramble on its own. For that reason, whether representing an individual facing an emotionally fraught investigation, or a company navigating a complex of compliance challenges under a government microscope, he strives to give counsel that not only addresses the immediate legal issues, but also accounts for the client’s broader needs.
Mr. Rein’s work often focuses on the intersections between technology and the law, including advising clients on legal aspects of data security, social media compliance, electronic discovery, the application of certain constitutional rights in a digital era, and related topics.
He was part of the team that won the groundbreaking Facebook speech case that held that intent is a key element of any violation of 18 U.S.C. 875(a) (the federal threats statute), United States v. Elonis, in the Supreme Court of the United States, for which he received the Alan Jay Josel Advocacy Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL).
The Best Lawyers in America© has recognized him in the category of White Collar Criminal Defense in every edition since 2020. He has also been named to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyer list in the Criminal Defense: White Collar category every year from 2019 - 2025, and a Rising Star in the same category in 2017 and 2018. For information about these selections and an overview of common third-party publications, rankings, and list methodologies, click here.
Mr. Rein dedicates a portion of his practice to helping the underserved. He has provided pro bono representation to Guantanamo Bay detainees (for which he was recognized, along with a group of Philadelphia attorneys, with the Federal Bar Association Criminal Law Committee's Clifford Scott Green Bill of Rights Award), homeless litigants, and prisoners pursuing civil rights claims.
A cum laude graduate from New York University School of Law, Mr. Rein served as Articles Editor for its Journal of Legislation and Public Policy. After law school, Mr. Rein spent three years as a litigator at a national law firm based in Philadelphia.
