Being a Whistleblower Lawyer
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Synopsis: 2019 Estelle Kohn Fellow, Siri Nelson, interviews Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, LLP Founding Partners, Michael and Stephen Kohn, about the day to day realities of being a whistleblower lawyer. Including, what clients can expect and what the public should know about whistleblowers and the lawyers who represent them.
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Director's Statement
For international whistleblower news visit https://www.whistleblowersblog.org.
Director's Bio
Siri Nelson, 2019 Estelle Kohn Fellow, Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, LLP
Siri Nelson is the recipient of the highly prestigious and competitive Estelle S. Kohn Memorial Fellowship awarded by Northeastern University School of Law. She graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in May 2019. Ms. Nelson graduated summa cum laude from the College of New Rochelle, School of New Resources, with a B.A. in Liberal Arts focused on the Social Sciences.
As a fellow at Kohn, Kohn, and Colapinto, Siri has contributed to advancing whistleblower rights world-wide. She played a key role in drafting of multiple comments to the SEC on their proposed rule-making under the Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower law. She participated in meetings with the Chairman of the SEC, individual Commission members and the staff of the Commission regarding the importance of maintain a robust SEC whistleblower program. Siri also wrote an Amicus Brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in Butler v. Board of County Commissioners for San Miguel County, a case that raised significant whistleblower issues
As a law student, Siri was a 2017 Internet Public Interest Opportunities Program Law Clerk at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); a 2018 Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Fellow; and an intern at the United States Office of Special Counsel. Siri was also a Big Ideas speaker at the 2019 NYU Grunin Center conference on “Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing – in the US and Beyond” and recognized for her work as an inductee to the prestigious Northeastern Huntington 100, an honor recognizing students who make exemplary contributions to the Northeastern community while also maintaining excellent grades.
Michael Kohn, , Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, LLP Founding Partner
Michael D. Kohn has successfully represented whistleblowers in cases against some of the nation’s largest corporations and law firms, including Georgia Power Company, Brown & Root and Ashland Oil Company. He has also won numerous whistleblower cases against federal, state and local governments. His knowledge of issues involving the life sciences, nuclear energy and technology are integral to the firm’s advocacy for those who report environmental violations in the workplace. Mr. Kohn is often sought out by the national media to comment on whistleblower actions and is co-author of two landmark books on whistleblower protection. He is co-founder and serves as President of the National Whistleblower Center, and Trustee of the National Whistleblowers Legal Defense & Education Fund. He formerly served as Legal Ethics Director at the Government Accountability Project (1985-88) specializing in litigating corporate whistleblower cases.
Stephen Kohn, , Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, LLP Founding Partner
Stephen M. Kohn is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading qui tam and whistleblower attorneys. He won the largest ever individual whistleblower reward/qui tam payment for UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld ($104 million reward for Mr. Birkenfeld). His record of winning whistleblower cases dates back to 1984, and he was peer-review rated by the National Law Journal as one of the 50-top plaintiff’s lawyers in the United States, the only whistleblower rights lawyer to achieve this distinction. His successful advocacy has resulted in landmark precedents in whistleblower and qui tam law.
Kohn helped draft key whistleblower legislation and regulatory rules, including those incorporated into the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Act, the IRS Qui Tam whistleblower amendments, and Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. He is the author of the first legal treatise on whistleblowing and is the world’s most published author on whistleblower protection. His most recent book is The New Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself. In 1988 he helped found the National Whistleblower Center, where is currently serves, pro bono, as Chairman of the Board. Steve Kohn also teaches an annual seminar on Whistleblower Law at the Northeastern University School of Law
