Tom Devine (lawyer)

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Tom Devine
Tom-Devine-accepting-award-whistleblowers.jpg
Devine at the 2019 Coalition for Integrity award ceremony
Born
Thomas M. Devine

(1951-06-21) June 21, 1951 (age 72)
Elmwood, Illinois, U.S.
Education Georgetown University (BA)
Antioch Law School (JD)
OccupationLegal Director of Government Accountability Project
Known forWhistleblower advocacy
Notable workThe Corporate Whistleblower's Survival Guide"

Tom Devine (born June 21, 1951) [1] is an American lawyer, investigator, lobbyist, teacher, and advocate for whistleblower rights. He is currently the legal director at the non-profit Government Accountability Project, in Washington, D.C., [2] where he has worked since 1979. He has assisted more than 7,000 whistleblowers, testified in Congress over 50 times, and has been a leader on the front lines to draft, enact, help to enact, or defend 34 whistleblower laws in the United States and abroad, including nearly all federal laws since 1978 and international rights ranging from former Soviet Bloc nations such as Kosovo, Serbia and Ukraine to the United Nations, World Bank, European Union, and Organization of American States. He is also an adjunct professor at the District of Columbia School of Law, where he teaches classes on and supervises clinical programs in whistleblower protection. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Devine was raised in a working-class family in Elmwood Park, Ill. [2] His late father was an inspector for a phone company. [2] Devine participated in the debate team at Arlington High School and later was an All-American debater at Georgetown University, where he captained the team that set a still unbroken record for tournament championships. [4] He graduated cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He enrolled in Antioch Law School in 1977, and while a student organized a legal clinic which sparked the survival and second generation of the whistleblower support organization, Government Accountability Project. [2] After graduation in 1980, Devine assumed leadership of Government Accountability Project's substantive work, including litigation, investigations, legislative advocacy, media outreach, and grassroots public education.

Whistleblower advocacy

Devine has been involved in successful campaigns to pass or defend 34 whistleblower laws or policies from the municipal to the international level, including:

He has called for improvements in Canada's whistleblower protection law, which he was quoted as calling “weaker than a cardboard shield” and “more like a tissue paper shield.” [5]

Recognition and publications

Devine has authored or co-authored more than 45 books, law review, newspaper, syndicate, or magazine op-ed articles on First Amendment protection, constitutional torts, civil service law, the False Claims Act, scientific freedom, protection of national forests, meat and poultry inspection, mid-air collisions, nuclear power safety, and the Strategic Defense Initiative, among others.  Some select publications include:

Caught Between Conscience and Career: How to Expose Abuses Without Exposing Your Identity, 2019, co-authored with staff from the Project on Government Oversight and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. [9]

"The National Security Whistleblower's Tightrope: Legal Rights of Government Employees and Contractors." In Whistleblowers, Leaks, and the Media: The First Amendment and National Security, edited by Ellen Shearer, Paul S. Rosenzweig, and Timothy J. McNulty, 2014. Co-authored with Steven L. Katz [10]

"The Key to Protection: Civil and Employment Law Remedies." International Handbook on Whistleblower Research, 2013. Co-authored with Paul Harpur and David Lewis. [11]

The Corporate Whistleblower's Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth (Berrett-Koeler Publishers), 2011. Co-authored with Tarek Maassarani. [12]

"The Whistleblower Protection Act Burdens of Proof: Ground Rules for Credible Free Speech Rights." E-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies 2.3 (September–October 2013). [13]

Running the Gauntlet: The Campaign for Credible Corporate Whistleblower Rights. The Government Accountability Project, 2008. Co-authored with Tarek Maassarani. [14]

Challenging the Culture of Secrecy: A Status Report on Freedom of Speech at the World Bank, 2004. [15] "The Whistleblower Statute Prepared for the Organization of American States and the Global Legal Revolution Protecting Whistleblowers." The George Washington International Law Review 857 (2003). Co-authored with Robert G. Vaughn and Keith Henderson. [16]

The Art of Anonymous Activism. Fund for Constitutional Government, with staff from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), 2002. [17]

"The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989: Foundation for the Modern Law of Employment Dissent." Administrative Law Journal 51.2 (Spring 1999): 531-579. [18]

"Secrecy and Accountability in Scientific Research." Forum for Allied Research and Public Policy 13.1 (Spring 1998): 65-70.

The Whistleblower Survival Guide: Courage without Martyrdom. Fund for Constitutional Government, 1997. [19]

"Whistleblower Protection—The GAP between the Law and Reality." Howard Law Journal 223 (1988). Co-authored with Donald Aplin. [20]

"Abuse of Authority: The Office of Special Counsel and Whistleblower Protection." Antioch Law Journal 4 (1986) 4: 5-71. Co-authoried with Donald Aplin. [21]

Blueprint for Civil Service Reform, 1976, Fund for Constitutional Government [22]

Related Research Articles

Whistleblowing is when a person, often an employee, reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whistleblowers can use a variety of internal or external channels to communicate information or allegations. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance, or a neutral third party within the company, hoping that the company will address and correct the issues. A whistleblower can also bring allegations to light by communicating with external entities, such as the media, government, or law enforcement. Whistleblowing can occur in either the private sector or the public sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesselyn Radack</span> American attorney

Jesselyn Radack is an American national security and human rights attorney known for her defense of whistleblowers, journalists, and hacktivists. She graduated from Brown University and Yale Law School and began her career as an Honors Program attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Office of Special Counsel</span> Investigative and prosecutorial agency

The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs), especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; gross waste of funds; abuse of authority; and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition, OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally, OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff, and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), founded in 2004 by former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds in league with over 50 former and current United States government officials from more than a dozen agencies, is an independent, nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who have come forward to address weaknesses of US security agencies.

Mark S. Zaid is an American attorney, based in Washington, D.C., with a practice focused on national security law, freedom of speech constitutional claims, and government accountability.

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Arthur Ernest "Ernie" Fitzgerald was an American engineer, a member of the Senior Executive Service in the United States Air Force, and a prominent U.S. government whistleblower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto</span> American law firm in Washington, D.C.

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto is a Washington, D.C.-based international whistleblower rights law firm specializing in anti-corruption and whistleblower law, representing whistleblowers who seek rewards, or who are facing employer retaliation, for reporting violations of the False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, Sarbanes-Oxley Acts, Commodity and Security Exchange Acts and the IRS Whistleblower law.

David Keith Colapinto is an attorney for Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, a Washington, D.C., USA, law firm specializing in employment law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whistleblower Protection Act</span> US law regarding protection of federal whistleblowers

The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(8)-(9), Pub.L. 101-12 as amended, is a United States federal law that protects federal whistleblowers who work for the government and report the possible existence of an activity constituting a violation of law, rules, or regulations, or mismanagement, gross waste of funds, abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. A federal agency violates the Whistleblower Protection Act if agency authorities take retaliatory personnel action against any employee or applicant because of disclosure of information by that employee or applicant.

The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a nonprofit whistleblower protection and advocacy organization in the United States. It was founded in 1977.

The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax exempt, educational and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1988 by the lawyers Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP. As of March 2019, John Kostyack is the executive director. Since its founding, the center has worked on whistleblower cases relating to environmental protection, nuclear safety, government and corporate accountability, and wildlife crime.

Stephen Martin Kohn is an attorney for Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, a Washington, D.C., law firm specializing in employment law. The author of the first legal treatise on whistleblowing, Kohn is recognized as one of the top experts in whistleblower protection law. He also has written on the subject of political prisoners and the history of the abrogation of the rights of political protestors.

Michael D. Kohn is a founding partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, where he specializes in whistleblower protection law.

The Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR) was a Canadian public interest organization and registered charity whose purpose was to support legislation and management practices that protect whistleblowers.

Thad McIntosh Guyer is an American civil rights and whistleblower lawyer, lecturer and advisor with an international law practice based in Oregon. He is known for defending whistleblowers in retaliation cases at large institutions including the United Nations, World Bank, International Labour Organization and African Development Bank.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whistleblower protection in the United States</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reuben Guttman</span>

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War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State is a 66-minute documentary by Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation, released in 2013.

References

  1. ↑ "Tom Devine". www.whistleblower.org. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Alboher Nusbaum, Marci (November–December 2002). "Devine Intervention". Legal Affairs. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  3. ↑ "Whistleblower Protection Clinic - UDC David A. Clarke School of Law". www.law.udc.edu. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ "GAP's in your defense - Government Accountability Project." Washington Monthly. February 1990.
  5. ↑ Hamovitch, Maya (January 30, 2022). "Canada has 'abysmal' whistleblower protections, advocates call out Trudeau directly for inaction". CTV News. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  6. ↑ "PAST WINNERS & JUDGES". HMH Foundation. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  7. ↑ "National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame | Freedom Forum Institute" . Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Washington, DC's Best Lawyers". Washingtonian. December 28, 2017. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Caught Between Conscience & Career: Expose Abuse Without Exposing Your Identity". www.whistleblower.org. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Whistleblowers, Leaks and the Media: The First Amendment and National Security". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  11. ↑ "UQ eSpace". espace.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  12. ↑ Devine, Tom; Maassarani, Tarek F. (2011). The Corporate Whistleblower's Survival Guide: A Handbook for Committing the Truth. ISBN   978-1605099866.
  13. ↑ Devine, Thomas (October 31, 2013). "The Whistleblower Protection Act Burdens of Proof: Ground Rules for Credible Free Speech Rights". e-Journal of International and Comparative Labour Studies.
  14. ↑ "Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". cdm16064.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved May 22, 2023.[ dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Challenging the Culture of Secrecy" (PDF). think-asia.org. Washington, D.C.: Government Accountability Project. July 8, 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  16. ↑ Vaughn, Robert G.; Devine, Thomas; Henderson, Keith (2003). "The Whistleblower Statute Prepared for the Organization of American States and the Global Legal Revolution Protecting Whistleblowers". George Washington International Law Review. 35: 857.
  17. ↑ "How-To Guide for Public Employees Exposing Problems" (PDF). November 14, 2002.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ↑ Devine, Thomas M. (1999). "The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989: Foundation for the Modern Law of Employment Dissent". Administrative Law Review. 51 (2): 531–579. ISSN   0001-8368. JSTOR   40709996.
  19. ↑ The Whistleblowers Survival Guide: Courage Without Martyrdom. Fund for Constitutional Government. January 1997. Retrieved November 25, 2019– via www.amazon.com.
  20. ↑ Devine, Thomas M.; Aplin, Donald G. (1988). "Whistleblower Protection - The Gap between the Law and Reality". Howard Law Journal. 31: 223.
  21. ↑ Devine, Thomas M.; Aplin, Donald G. (1986). "Abuse of Authority: The Office of the Special Counsel and Whistleblower Protection". Antioch Law Journal. 4: 5.
  22. ↑ "Blueprint for Civil Service Reform" (PDF). 1976.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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