A Note on Blogs and Law Firms
The Second and Third Editions Make Some Additions to the Corporate Resisters tactical toolkit. Multiple cases discuss how the availability of “watchdog blogs” and of legal counsel can greatly aid a resister. These points are also made in several of the new essays. These options are new developments since the Enron story unfolded. Resisters are no longer limited to trying to find a responsive management figure or taking their story to regulators or the press. Questionable deals can now be published anonymously through the blogs, many of which are widely read and well equipped to handle technical matters. Legal counsel is on offer to advise potential whistleblowers about the strength of their case. Such counsel can also handle sensitive negotiations and the tactics of responding to employer threats.
These options help level the playing field against corporate actors who rely on intimidation, retaliation and cover-ups in the face of unwelcome truths. In the interests of providing reference resources for potential resisters, a number of these blogs and legal contacts are provided below. Where the author has a basis for commenting, such commentary is provided. However, potential Resisters are advised to do their own due diligence before pursuing any of these options. Their mention here is more by way of illustration of what is available, and should not be considered any endorsement of their services by the author.
Watchdog Blogs
Re: The Auditors
This blog features Francine McKenna, a former Price Waterhouse auditor, who consistently monitors the public accounting firms and reports on major accounting events/scandals. Ms. McKenna is deeply versed in accounting and the practicalities of the auditor/client relationship. She is also widely read and used as a source by major business columnists.
Fulcrum Inquiry
This blog is published by a law firm that specializes in expert witness and investigative analysis. They also provide “whistleblower services” to firms wanting to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. Their blog material provides a steady update on legal developments in corporate corruption and whistleblower cases as well as useful interpretative material after major legal decisions. This author found out about the Bush Administration’s Department of Labor record of turning down whistleblower claims on this blog.
Jake Zamansky
This blog is written by a long-time securities fraud lawyer. His specialty is representing individual and institutional investors who have suffered losses due to fraud and also brokerage industry individuals who have been wrongly terminated. His articles also appear on forbes.com. Zamansky has been forthright in asking why the SEC and Department of Justice have prosecuted so few of the senior executives who played major roles in the financial crisis, and whose actions seem to be in violation of securities laws and SOX.
The Whistleblower Blog
The Whistleblower Blog is an independent news and information source sponsored as a pro bono public service project by Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP. The contributors of the blog are continually populating the website with relevant news and policy issues critical to whistleblowers and activists.
Whistleblower Resources
National Whistleblowers Center
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting employees’ lawful disclosure of waste, fraud, and abuse. The NWC sponsors advocacy, education, and assistance projects. Its public services include an online resource center, advising on whistleblower rights, a speakers bureau of national experts and former whistleblowers, and a national attorney referral service which is operated by the NWC’s sister group, the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (NWLDEF).
National Whistleblowers Legal Defense & Education Fund
http://www.whistleblowers.org/about-us/nwldef
The National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund (Fund) is a “sister” organization of the National Whistleblower Center. Four Attorney-Trustees and its Director, all of whom are licensed attorneys in the District of Columbia, manage the Fund. The Trustees and the Director represent the NWC on precedent-setting amicus curie “friend of the Court” briefs, oversee all attorney referrals and, in some instances, provide representation on whistleblower cases. The Fund also manages the Whistleblower Protection Blog.
The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide
https://www.whistleblower.org/corporate-whistleblowers-survival-guide
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has released a comprehensive publication about corporate whistleblowing, The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth. Published by Berrett-Koehler, this step-by-step guide details key information that potential business whistleblowers should know before, during, and after blowing the whistle.
GAP Legal Director Tom Devine and former GAP investigator Tarek F. Maassarani, co-authors of the book, summarize a decade-long legal revolution in corporate worker free speech rights.
The Whistleblower’s Handbook
Stephen Martin Kohn, Lyons Press, Guilford, Ct., 2011
A comprehensive practical guide for action by potential whistleblowers, it contains a full account of current legal protections and bounty provisions. It also warns of multiple pitfalls, including corporate “hotlines.” Kohn, a whistleblower attorney, is Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center.
Workplace Fairness
http://www.workplacefairness.org/whistleblowing
Workplace Fairness is a nonprofit organization focused on maintaining a comprehensive, online one-stop-shop website with information about workers’ rights. The website hosts an abundance of information on whistleblowing and retaliation and provides a user-friendly interface by directing the user to the most practical information.
Project on Government Oversight
The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) is a Washington D.C. independent watchdog group founded in 1981 to conduct research and identify systematic corruption with federal government funds. POGO works with whistleblowers and investigative journalists to document evidence of corruption, waste, fraud, unlawful behavior, or abuse. The POGO blog is an extension of the website continuously updated with informative research and opinions on the latest whistleblower news, contracting issues and other public policy matters.
Whistleblower Representation
Phillips & Cohen
http://www.phillipsandcohen.com/?gclid=CPCp75GuktECFdgIgQod6oYBeA
This firm advertises itself as one of the oldest and most successful practices of defending whistleblowers. In more than 30 years of such work, the firm claims whistleblower settlements/recoveries exceeding $12 billion. It is noteworthy that they take on not only Qui Tam cases but SEC, CFTC and IRS whistleblower cases. The firm has offices in Washington DC, Miami, New York, San Francisco and London.
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto
https://www.kkc.com/our-practice
This DC law firm also claims a long history of defending whistleblowers, and its two name partners, Stephen M. and Michael D. Kohn, are founders of the National Whistleblowers Center. The firm clearly states its willingness to represent whistleblowers on a contingency basis, and they take on Qui Tam, SEC, CFTC and IRS cases.
Berger & Montague
This firm, located in Philadelphia, has more than a decade of dealing with litigation on behalf of individuals who may have been wrongly dismissed from employment. The firm stresses that it takes time to evaluate whistleblower cases in terms of whether they will interest the government or regulators. It now claims over $1 billions in recoveries for federal and state governments and over $100 million in bounties paid to whistleblowers. Fees are charged on a contingency basis.
Labaton Sucharow Law Firm Whistleblower Program
http://www.secwhistlebloweradvocate.com/program/program-overview
This firm advertises itself as the first law firm in the country to establish a practice exclusively focused on protecting and advocating for SEC whistleblowers. The firm has a securities litigation practice, and supports its whistleblower representation efforts with an in-house team of investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants with federal and state law enforcement experience. Its SEC practice is headed by a former Assistant Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division.
The Whistleblower Law Firm
http://www.federalwhistleblowerlawyers.com/Firm-Overview.shtml
This firm advertises that it provides advice on whether or not to report illegal business practices. This means they will advise on whether a whistleblower case has the potential to result in monetary awards. The firm states that it “will handle the legal side of a qui tam or whistleblower claim so you can focus on what is important to you.” Their whistleblower representation is charged on a contingency basis.
Government Reporting
SEC Whistleblower Blog
http://www.secwhistleblowerprogram.org/SEC-Whistleblower-Blog/
This SEC blog provides the Agency’s latest views on what legal protections are available to whistleblowers, and is useful for getting a first sense of whether one’s disclosures will be protected. The blog also contains links for speaking with an attorney who can help evaluate the potential whistleblower’s case.
The Whistleblower Protection Program
https://www.whistleblowers.gov/
The Whistleblower Protection Program of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration enforces whistleblower protection of more than twenty whistle-blower statuses protecting employees who report violations in worker participation in safety and health activities, work-related injury, illness and fatality, and a violation of exercising the rights as an employee. The website provides extensive information on laws and policy guidance and contains direct links to filing a complaint.
Department of Justice (DOJ)
The DOJ recently created a whistleblower “ombudsman” in the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). His role appears to be to help train Department employees in the proper handling of whistleblower disclosures. For further information, contact OIG Chief of Staff Jay Lerner, or Counselor to the Inspector General Robert P. Storch at (202) 514–3435.
Transparancy International
https://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/whistleblowing/
The international non-governmental organization, Transparancy International, duly positions whistleblowers as invaluable in exposing fraud, corruption and mismanagement. The organization is engaged in a wide range of advocacy, public awareness and research activities on the subject. The website provides an anti-corruption helpdesk, as well as an in-depth assessment of whistleblower laws in major European countries. In addition, the organization provides a list of advocacy and legal advice centers located in over 50 countries worldwide, with the main purpose of advising and enabling whistleblowing.