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National Whistleblower Center Staff
Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director
Stephen M. Kohn, Mr. Kohn is one of the nation’s foremost experts in whistleblower protection law and the author of the first legal treatise on whistleblowing, Protecting Environmental and Nuclear Whistleblowers: A Litigation Manual (NIRS, 1985). In addition, he has authored or co-authored five additional books on whistleblower law: The Labor Lawyers Guide to the Rights and Responsibilities of Employee Whistleblowers (Greenwood Press, 1988), The Whistleblower Litigation Handbook (Wiley Law, 1991), Concepts and Procedures in Whistleblower Law (Greenwood Press, 2000) and Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees (Praeger, 2004). Since 1984, Mr. Kohn has successfully represented whistleblowers in numerous cases (both at trial and on appeal), has testified in Congress on behalf of whistleblower reforms and worked directly with the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee on drafting the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate whistleblower protections. Mr. Kohn has filed numerous quit tam claims on behalf of employees who disclosed government fraud, successfully litigated landmark precedents establishing employee rights under the First Amendment, and has represented whistleblowers in the O.J Simpson case, the World Trade Center bombing cases, the Oklahoma City bombing case and the Linda Tripp-Privacy Act case.
Prior to co-founding the Center in 1988, he served as an Adjunct Professor and Clinical Supervisor at the Antioch School of Law (supervising a legal clinic on whistleblower protections) (1984-88) and served as the Clinical Director and Director of Corporate Litigation for the Government Accountability Project. In 2006, he was named the Northeastern University School of Law’s Daynard Public Interest Visiting Fellow. Mr. Kohn has a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law; an M.A. in Political Science from Brown University; and a B.S. in Social Education from Boston University. In addition to his books on whistleblower law, he is the author of Jailed for Peace (Greenwood Press, 1986) and American Political Prisoners (Praeger, 1994). Mr. Kohn is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and also serves as an Attorney-Trustee for the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Michael Kohn, General Counsel
Michael D. Kohn is a nationally recognized litigator, focusing on whistleblower protection law and the co-author of The Labor Lawyers Guide to the Rights and Responsibilities of Employee Whistleblowers (Quorum, 1988) and Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees (Praeger, 2004). He has successfully represented whistleblowers in litigation against some of the nation’s largest corporations and law firms, including Georgia Power Company, Brown & Root and the Ashland Oil Company. He has also won numerous whistleblower cases against federal, state and local governments. Mr. Kohn has a J.D. from Antioch School of Law, and a B.S. from Rutgers University (Biology). Prior to joining the Center in 1988, he was a senior litigation attorney and Director of Legal Ethics for the Government Accountability Project. Mr. Kohn is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and also serves as an Attorney-Trustee for the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund.
David K. Colapinto, General Counsel, Special Litigation
David K. Colapinto is a nationally recognized whistleblower advocate, with an expertise in government fraud and qui tam cases and in the use of the Privacy Act in defending whistleblowers. The co-author of Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees (Praeger, 2004), Mr. Colapinto is a highly experienced and highly successful litigator who has represented numerous whistleblowers in state and federal courts and before numerous administrative agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Mr. Colapinto also played an integral role in obtaining whistleblower protection for FBI employees. As co-counsel to Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, Mr. Colapinto was responsible for the lawsuit that forced President Clinton to issue a historic directive ordering the Attorney General to implement regulations protecting FBI employee whistleblowers. He is an Attorney-Trustee for the National Whistleblower Center and General Counsel of the Center’s Forensic Justice Project. Mr. Colapinto received a J.D. degree from Antioch School of Law and a B.A. degree in History from Boston University. Mr. Colapinto is licensed to practice law in the District if Columbia and also serves as an Attorney-Trustee for the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Mary Jane Wilmoth, Program Director and Staff Attorney
Mary Jane Wilmoth has been an instrumental figure in defending whistleblower rights in complex NRC licensing and enforcement proceedings and EPA whistleblowers before the DOL. Ms. Wilmoth also serves as the Center’s chief financial officer and as an Attorney-Trustee of the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund. Ms. Wilmoth has a J.D. from Franklin Pierce Law Center and a B.A. in Government and Politics from George Mason University. Ms. Wilmoth is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.
Estelle S. Kohn, Deputy Director National Whistleblower
Legal Defense and Education Fund
Ms. Kohn coordinates the NWLDEF’s national Attorney Referral Service, speakers bureau, special events programming and is responsible for all of the Fund’s continuing legal education programs. Ms. Kohn also is responsible for coordinating a highly respected nation-wide student internship program. The program, which operates year-round, brings over 50 students per year to Washington, D.C., to learn about whistleblower law and advocacy. Ms. Kohn has a B.A. from Stockton State College and a J.D. from the District of Columbia School of Law. She is a court certified mediator. Before working for the Center she interned for D.C. Superior Court Judge Arthur Burnett Sr., the Washington Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and for the District of Columbia Bar Association’s pro bono department.
Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, Executive Director, Forensic Justice Project
Dr. Frederic Whitehurst investigated, uncovered and reported the scientific misconduct which forced the FBI crime lab to agree to forty major reforms, including undergoing an accreditation process. Dr. Whitehurst received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University, a J.D. from Georgetown University, joined the FBI in 1982 and served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI crime lab from 1986-98. While employed by the FBI crime lab, the FBI officially rated Dr. Whitehurst as the leading national and international expert in the science of explosives and explosives’ residue. Dr. Whitehurst is licensed to practice law in the state of North Carolina.
Tony Munter, Staff Attorney
Tony Munter is a part-time staff attorney for the National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund. He is responsible for managing the Report Fraud Now program. He is a graduate of McGill University and the Massachusetts School of Law, where he served on law review. In 2005 Mr. Munter successfully appealed the case of Andrewes v. U.S. INS, 141 Fed.Appx. 98 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. He is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.
Marshall Chriswell, Public Affairs and Development Coordinator
Mr. Chriswell coordinates the Center’s grass roots organizing campaign (the “Action Now” network) and leads the Center’s development efforts. A graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law, Mr. Chriswell successfully completed the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars: Law and Criminal Justice program, with a focus on whistleblower advocacy.
Board of Directors
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