Michael D. Kohn

Founding Partner

Michael is nationally recognized as a leading whistleblower attorney, setting numerous legal precedents.

Michael D. Kohn is nationally recognized as a leading whistleblower attorney. A founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, the first law firm exclusively dedicated to representing whistleblowers, Michael has over 30 years of experience advocating for whistleblowers before courts and federal agencies.

Michael specializes in False Claims Act qui tam cases as well as whistleblower award cases before the SEC, CFTC and IRS. In addition to obtaining multi-million dollar awards for his clients, Kohn has argued multiple precedent-setting cases, furthering protections for whistleblowers across the nation.

In a qui tam whistleblower case against government contractor KBR, Michael unearthed how KBR systematically silenced employees with knowledge of kickbacks from going to the federal government as a result of forcing them to execute restrictive NDAs. Having unearthed these facts, Michael obtained an SEC ruling finding the use of such NDAs unlawful and convinced the SEC to fine KBR. This precedent-setting SEC ruling explicitly relied on the case law Michael put in place decades earlier in the case of whistleblower Joe Macktal.

Other Major Achievements

In another qui tam case, Michael held the surety industry accountable under the False Claims Act. Michael represented whistleblower Andrew Scollick who blew the whistle on a multi-million dollar scheme to illegally obtain Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-aside contracts. The case established for the first time that construction bonding companies could be held liable for defrauding the government if they had reason to know the entity they were bonding was not actually majority-owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran.

Michael also represented False Claims Act whistleblower James Connolly and successfully used the California False Claims Act to hold the multinational bank and financial services company HSBC accountable for overcharging the California Public Employees Retirement System in foreign currency trading. The case settled for a $7 million payment to California and Michael secured a $1.12 million for Connolly.

Bloomberg: Capitol Gains
Learn about whistleblowing and the cases Michael and the firm have fought and won in recent years.

Notable Cases

Dr. Tommie “Toni” Savage
$17.5 - $20 Million
Alex Chepurko was hired as a trader for a biodiesel company that turned out to be a shell operation selling used biofuel to claim tax credits who secretly recorded his boss and others to expose the $100 million fraud.
Andrés Olarte Peña
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), whistleblower Andrés Olarte Peña, and the firm Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto are calling for a thorough investigation of Ecopetrol to hold it accountable for its documented illegal environmental and human rights abuses, and any resultant securities law violations due to false and misleading disclosures related to those abuses.
Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse
Exposed a $7 Billion No-Bid Contract
Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse objected and exposed an illegal $7 billion no-bid Defense Department contract between Halliburton and the Army Corps of Engineers for the reconstruction of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

“I couldn’t have navigated the shark invested waters whistleblower face without the passion, dedication, determination, and brilliance of my incredible attorneys”

“…the three co-founders of the National Whistleblower Center, these are important names, Stephen Kohn, Michael, Kohn and David Colapinto, thank you so much for all that you do, they broke the mold with these visionaries and we are all better for it.” (National Whistleblower Day, 2018)

Linda Tripp, Retaliation Whistleblower

“I just finished reading the brief that Mike and Steve Kohn developed on my appeal to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. It is, unquestionably, the most professionally developed legal document I have reviewed in thirty-years . . . Each has my eternal thanks and appreciation. They have helped to restore my faith in the legal profession.”

John Ryan, Whistleblower, Niagara Mohawk Nuclear Power Plant

“It is with much joy and great pleasure to most sincerely congratulate you for your great victory in defending the case of our blood bother Dennis Brutus, one of the most distinguished sons of our beloved country South Africa. We have no doubt the entire progressive world joins us in our unqualified gratitude to your great wonderful achievement in succeeding to rescue Brutus from the subsequent agonizing predicament in which he would find himself if the case was lost.”

Chief Representative of the ANC, Cairo Egypt, April 10, 1983

“I want to try to express my feelings of gratitude for what you are doing for me, but I’m not sure that words will do the job . . . The bureaucrats almost won; not because they were legally right, but rather, because they have the power and influence to be able to crush any resistance . . . You are rendering a great service, not only to individuals like myself, but to our country a well.”

Roger Wensil, B.F. Shaw Co., First Successful Whistleblower at a Nuclear Weapons Production Plant

“I want to try to express my feelings of gratitude for what you are doing for me, but I’m not sure that words will do the job . . . The bureaucrats almost won; not because they were legally right, but rather, because they have the power and influence to be able to crush any resistance . . . You are rendering a great service, not only to individuals like myself, but to our country a well.”

Decision Awarding Attorneys Fees, Hobby v. Georgia Power Co.

“Mike Kohn’s passion for fighting for his clients is simply remarkable.”

Harry Barko, Qui Tam Whistleblower

40 Years of Accomplishment

Kohn is one of the most actively involved whistleblower attorneys in the world, focusing on issues of serious public importance.

Awards & Recognition

In recognition of the growing importance of whistleblower litigation, The National Law Journal named the whistleblower attorney and advocacy law firm of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto as one of top fifty plaintiff’s law firms in the United States. The firm’s partners were officially named as among “America’s Elite Trial Lawyers.” In its September 29, 2014 article, “Elite Trial Lawyers: The 50 Leading Plaintiff’s Firms in America,” the National Law Journal named Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto as one of the firm’s “doing the most creative and most important work in the courtroom.”

Books & Publications

Books

Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004) (co-authored with Michael Kohn and Stephen M, Kohn). The Guide was highly praised by the two principle co-sponsors of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate whistleblower law.
The Labor Lawyer’s Guide to the Rights and Responsibilities of Employee Whistleblowers (Quorum Books, 1988) (co-authored with Stephen Kohn).

Law Review and Scholarly Articles

An Overview of Federal and State Whistleblower Protection, 4 Antioch Law Journal 99 (Summer, 1986) (co-author).
Conscientious Objection: A Constitutional Right, 21 New England Law Review 545 (1986) (co-author, the Hon. Frederick L. Brown, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Court of Appeals and Stephen Kohn).
Human Rights and Freedom of Conscience in Administrative Law: A Critique of the Fugitive Slave Act and the Selective Service Act Through Use of the Liberty Fact Doctrine, 61 University of Detroit Journal of Urban Law 177 (Winter, 1984) (co-author, the Hon. Frederick L. Brown, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Court of Appeals).

Education & Bar Admission

Doctor of Jurisprudence
Antioch School of Law 85′

Bachelor of Science
B.S. Rutgers University 79′

State Bar
District of Columbia
New Jersey, 1986 (inactive)

Federal Bar
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Presentations

APEC Anti-Corruption and Transparency Symposium, Seoul, Korea (whistleblowing represents the most effective tool available to detect and end corruption)
The Jerusalem Conference for Quality Government, Jerusalem, Israel (The success and availability of international whistleblower protections)
21st Economic Forum Krynica, Poland (Anti-corruption impact resulting from effective whistleblower protections and rewards)
Croatia Investigative journalists Panel (Topic: understanding investigative reporting and journalistic methods in the United States)
State Department International delegations from: Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, South Africa & Yemen (Lessons learned during the creation of whistleblower protections in America)

Media Appearances

BBC, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, C-SPAN, MSNBC, FOX, RT, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time Magazine, National Law Journal, and Vanity Fair.

Michael’s Latest Book

Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees

Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees provides a clear, comprehensive and easy-to-understand explanation of the employee-protection requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”

– Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)