How to Interest a Whistleblower Lawyer in Your Case

Kirby McInerney LLP receives a large number of inquiries about potential cases, and we agree to take on only a small number of them. In general, we are looking for cases that we think are likely to result in substantial whistleblower awards.  Below are some characteristics of what makes a compelling case, and the information we will need to evaluate your claim.
 

The Whistleblower Programs

We represent client in several whistleblower award programs:
 

• False Claims Act (federal and state) qui tam cases that are about government dollars lost because of false or fraudulent conduct.
• SEC Whistleblower Program claims about securities law violations.
• CFTC Whistleblower Program claims about commodities law violations.
• IRS Whistleblower Program claims about federal tax law violations.
• FinCEN Whistleblower Program claims about anti-money laundering and foreign sanctions violations.
• DOJ's Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program claims about significant corporate or financial misconduct.
• DOJ’s and the Postal Service’s Antitrust Whistleblower Reward Program about criminal violations of the antitrust laws.

What We Look for in a Whistleblower Case

While every case may be unique, we lay out below some guidelines to help potential clients understand what impresses us, and what doesn’t. We work on a contingency basis, so we do not want to put our time, efforts, and resources into cases that are not likely to result in whistleblower awards.
 

We are going to critically assess the claims

Our reputation is that we present high quality whistleblower claims, and we want to continue that reputation so that when government enforcers see claims from us, they know that the claims stand out from the crowd and are worthy of careful consideration.

To preserve that reputation, we are going to look carefully at each claim and make our own judgments about the validity of the claim, the quality and quantity of the evidence, and whether the claim is valuable and likely to result in a substantial whistleblower award.
 

Tell us WHO you are and who the target is

We need to run a conflicts check before we enter into an engagement agreement. To do that, we need to know your name and the name of the target. Bear in mind that our discussion about potentially representing you is covered by the attorney-client privilege, and we have to keep the substance of that discussion confidential.

We understand that whistleblowers are often concerned about anonymity, and we can have a high-level discussion about what type of claim is contemplated before names are shared.
 

Tell us WHAT the violation is

We will want to know what the misconduct was and what laws, rules, contracts, or other obligations were violated. Some obligations are more obvious than others. For example, it is obvious that it is illegal under the tax laws for a business to lie about its cash income, but it might be less obvious what the requirements in a non-public contract might be. Either way, we want to know what the obligations were and what the target did to violate them.
 

Tell us what EVIDENCE there is

Good cases are built on good evidence, and we want to hear what evidence you have and what you know about evidence is available from other sources that can be used to prove the violations. Evidence can take any form, including documents, emails, recordings, data, testimony, etc. Note that there can be various rules at play, so it is best to consult with counsel before collecting evidence that is not already in your possession.
 

Tell us if the target KNEW it was engaged in a violation

Most, but not all, whistleblower claims require a level of knowing misconduct. We want to hear what you know about such knowledge. For example, knowledge might be shown if you or someone else reported the violations internally and the company did not fix the issue, or it might be shown because the target certified compliance with a set of obligations while either knowing it was not in compliance or recklessly failing to determine if it was in compliance.
 

Tell us HOW MUCH MONEY is at issue

We will consider the realistic value of a case. Small dollar cases rarely get traction and may not even meet the threshold requirements of some whistleblower programs. Expect detailed questions from us about, for example, how much government money was lost due to the misconduct.
 

Tell us HOW YOU KNOW about the violations

We want to know the source of the information you are providing. At one end of the spectrum are the company insiders who directly witnessed misconduct, and at the other end are strangers to the targets who have applied expert analysis to find the violations. Whistleblower programs vary as to how welcoming they are to the outsider whistleblowers and to whistleblowers’ use of public information to formulate the claims.
 

Tell us WHEN the misconduct happened

Recency matters, both for statute of limitations purposes and for judging how government enforcers might treat a claim. We will want to know the age of your information and the timing of the target’s misconduct.
 

Stay away from speculation

Good whistleblower claims are based on concrete information, not guesswork. If you do not know if there was a violation and you are just supposing there was one, it’s not a case we are going to take.
 

Be very cautious about relying on AI to formulate or analyze your claims

Inquiries that have been put together using AI are often not helpful because they obscure what it is that YOU know about the violations. We prefer to hear about what you know, and not what can be gleaned from the internet and processed through artificial intelligence. In addition, we have seen that some AI engines provide users with very misleading information about potential whistleblower claims. Also, bear in mind that there have been some recent legal developments that cast doubt upon the confidentiality of using AI to develop or pursue legal claims.
 

Talk to us about the prospect of remaining anonymous when filing a whistleblower claim

The possibility of anonymity is not completely guaranteed under any of the whistleblower programs, but some offer a greater likelihood of anonymity. We can discuss the ins and outs of each program with you.