We are leaders in the field of independent monitoring. For two decades, we have successfully deployed our monitoring teams across a wide variety of significant assignments and industries and have a proven record working with federal, state, and local government authorities. We have undertaken monitoring projects in the school construction, plumbing, elevator, and commercial carting industries, and after 9/11 were appointed to serve in the role of an integrity monitor for the World Trade Center disaster clean-up. We were appointed by the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York as the Monitor of the New York Racing Association pursuant to the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement. Upon the conclusion, the Comptroller of the State of New York extolled the Getnick & Getnick LLP team “for their unfailing integrity, expertise, dedication and business acumen during the course of this monitorship.”
Getnick & Getnick has played a critical role in the development of independent monitoring and its ethical standards.
- Judge Margaret J. Finerty, who coordinates the firm’s independent monitoring practice, is a member of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Corporate Monitors.
- Neil V. Getnick, the firm’s Managing Partner, is an original founder of the International Association of International Private Sector Inspectors General (“IAIPSIG”) and currently serves as the Association’s Chairman and President.
- Following Congressional Hearings in which Neil V. Getnick testified, a Subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security issued a report on the subject of “An Examination of Federal 9/11 Assistance to New York: Lessons Learned in Preventing Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and Lax Management,” identifying IPSIGs as a “Best Practice.”
- Getnick & Getnick lawyers co-authored the foundation reports on the IPSIG and the IAIPSIG Code of Ethics; and prepared and presented testimony in support of independent monitoring locally and before the United States Congress. The National Law Journal formally endorsed the IAIPSIG Code of Conduct saying that it “defines independence” and the IPSIG mechanism became the principal monitoring means employed by New York City in its citywide anti-corruption programs.
- Internationally, Getnick & Getnick has presented independent monitoring concepts in various settings, including the International Anti-Corruption Conferences in Lima, Peru, and Durban, South Africa, and in Belfast for the Northern Ireland Government.
- Getnick & Getnick partners have participated in numerous CLE seminars on monitoring, including those sponsored by the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Council.
We view independent monitoring as a business integrity tool for mainstream business as well as a means of reform for corruption-prone companies and industries. We focus on controls, deterrence, and detection in the broader context of the monitored entity’s financial and business imperatives. Our approach to independent monitoring is both pro-business and anti-corruption.