At the 20th Annual Convention of NELA, the National Employment Lawyers Association, I recently had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion of some of the country’s top “whistleblower” lawyers. The topic was “The Most Pressing Issues in Representing Whistleblowers.”
Joining me in this panel discussion were Richard Renner and David J. Marshall. Richard is an attorney with Kohn & Colapinto in Washington, DC. and also serves as Legal Director of the National Whistleblowers Center. David is a partner with Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP in DC.
The discussion included:
(1) the brand new Amendments to the False Claims Act that became law on May 20, 2009;
(2) “winning” cases and clients;
(3) what documents and other evidence may lawfully be gathered;
(4) protecting clients who may have been forced to participate in unlawful acts, and who therefore may face liability or prosecution themselves; and
(5) presenting cases most effectively to capture the government’s interest.
In addition, we discussed the new IRS Whistleblower Program, in this second consecutive year that NELA invited me to participate in its national convention’s panel discussion of whistleblower issues. Audience members had many excellent questions during and after the discussion.
After our session, my friend Mark Kleiman led a discussion of whistleblower issues entitled “The California False Claims Act & Other Whistleblower Cases.” Joining Mark were J. Bernard Alexander III and Wilmer J. Harris.
Much thanks to NELA’s fine Board and Executive Director Teri Chaw in arranging this terrific conference in Rancho Mirage, California.