G&G partners Neil V. Getnick, Lesley Ann Skillen and Judge Margaret Finerty played lead roles at the Fourteenth Annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (TAFEF) Conference and IRS/SEC Whistleblower Boot Camp held in Washington DC from September 14-17, 2014.   This is the key national gathering for attorneys representing whistleblowers, with more than 300 whistleblower lawyers and many Department of Justice (DOJ) trial lawyers and prosecutors gathering for three days of discussion and networking.

Neil V. Getnick gave the Keynote Address at the Awards Dinner in addition to serving as the Master of Ceremonies in his capacity as Chairman of TAFEF.    On September 15, he led a panel of five experts, including the US Attorney for South Carolina and senior government attorneys from the DOJ and the New York and California Attorney Generals’ Offices, on Best Practices for Qui Tam Counsel.  As the first session of the conference, Lesley Ann Skillen moderated a panel on Preparing Your Qui Tam Case in which whistleblower attorneys and the Co-Chief of Civil Frauds for the Southern District of New York US Attorney’s Office discussed criteria for the selection, preparation and effective presentation of qui tam cases.  Judge Margaret Finerty led a panel at the IRS/SEC Boot Camp focused on Coordinated Fraud Fighting in Hybrid Cases involving IRS, SEC and qui tam (federal and state) qui tam actions.  The panel included the Deputy Chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit in the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Assistant Chief of the FCPA Unit in the DOJ, who discussed the increasing importance of international whistleblowers in the government’s efforts to combat foreign bribery.