Jason Zuckerman

Whistleblower Law, SEC Whistleblower Attorney, CFTC Whistleblower Attorney, AML Whistleblower Attorney, False Claims Act Whistleblower Attorney, Whistleblower Retaliation Attorney, Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Attorney

Described by the National Law Journal as a “leading whistleblower attorney,” Jason Zuckerman is privileged to represent whistleblowers in high-stakes whistleblower retaliation and whistleblower rewards claims. His practice focuses on securing awards for whistleblowers disclosing fraud to the SEC and CFTC and litigating whistleblower retaliation cases, including Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower retaliation claims. In conjunction with co-counsel, Zuckerman has successfully represented qui tam whistleblowers disclosing off-label marketing, Medicare fraud, medical device fraud, and student loan fraud. He has obtained 8 awards for SEC whistleblowers concerning a wide range of federal securities law violations, including offering frauds, accounting fraud, and Ponzi schemes.

Zuckerman has established favorable precedents under a wide range of whistleblower protection laws and obtained substantial compensation for whistleblowers and recoveries for the government in whistleblower rewards cases. Some of Zuckerman’s wins are featured in Tom Mueller’s seminal book about whistleblowing Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud and Dan Maldea’s Corruption in U.S. Higher Education: The Stories of Whistleblowers.

Zuckerman’s broad experience includes serving as Senior Legal Advisor to the Special Counsel at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency charged with protecting whistleblowers in the federal government. In 2012, the Secretary of Labor appointed Zuckerman to serve on the DOL’s Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee to make recommendations to improve OSHA’s enforcement of federal whistleblower protection laws.

In matters in which Zuckerman Law obtained SEC whistleblower awards for its clients, the public orders announcing the awards note the “significant assistance” provided to SEC staff that enabled the SEC to conserve resources and act promptly. Whistleblower tips filed by Zuckerman Law have enabled the SEC to halt fraudulent investment schemes worth more than $1 billion.

Zuckerman chairs the Anti-Fraud Coalition’s Financial Frauds Committee and performs significant pro bono work to assist the legislative and regulatory initiatives of a coalition of whistleblower advocacy organizations.

During his service at the OSC, Zuckerman oversaw several high-profile investigations, including a whistleblower retaliation case resulting in the removal of an Inspector General. He played an active role in the agency’s implementation of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, expanded the agency’s outreach program, and drafted amicus curiae briefs on key issues concerning federal employee whistleblower rights and protections.

Zuckerman has lectured extensively on whistleblower protection laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley and False Claims Act actions, and has written several articles on whistleblower rights. He has trained judges, senior government officials, and foreign delegations from more than 30 countries about whistleblower rights and protections.

Zuckerman co-authored a chapter on litigating whistleblower cases for Whistleblowing: The Law of Retaliatory Discharge, drafted a chapter on the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act for the D.C. Practice Manual, and is a contributing author to The International Handbook on Whistleblowing Research.

For more than 16 years, Zuckerman has been a contributing author to an annual update on the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act published by the ABA Fair Labor Standards Legislation Committee.

Zuckerman’s articles have been cited in various treatises and in federal court opinions on the scope of Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection and the use of company documents to disclose fraud to regulators. Recently an SEC Commissioner cited Zuckerman’s article on the SEC whistleblower program in a statement about proposed amendments to SEC whistleblower rules.

In addition to shaping whistleblower protection law through successful outcomes for clients, Zuckerman has worked with whistleblower advocates to draft and lobby for passage of whistleblower protection laws and advocate for more effective and vigorous enforcement of whistleblower protection laws. Zuckerman drafted portions of the 2009 amendments to the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act, which is now the strongest public sector whistleblower protection statute at the state level, and testified at a hearing about those amendments.

In conjunction with the Government Accountability Project, Zuckerman drafted a petition for rulemaking to the Department of Labor to combat corporate muzzling of whistleblowers. That petition resulted in OSHA issuing new guidance on settlement approval in whistleblower cases.

Zuckerman’s recommendations for improving OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program are cited in Congressional hearing testimony and a top-to-bottom review of the program, and comments that he co-authored are cited in final regulations implementing the whistleblower protection provisions of the Energy Reorganization Act and six environmental statutes.

In 2011, he led a coalition of whistleblower advocates in meetings with the SEC Chairman, two other Commissioners, and senior SEC staff to offer the whistleblower perspective on proposed regulations implementing the whistleblower reward provision of the Dodd-Frank Act. Zuckerman advocated for rules prohibiting the use of confidentiality agreements to bar whistleblowing to the SEC.

Zuckerman has drafted amicus curiae briefs in leading whistleblower retaliation cases, including in Palmer v. Canadian Nat’l Railway, Powers v. Union Pacific Railroad, Johnson v. Siemens, Bonds v. Leavitt, and Welch v. Chao, and his publications about whistleblower rights are cited in Financial Statement Fraud: Prevention and Detection, Managing Risk in Communication Encounters: Strategies for the Workplace, and Nonprofit Financial Management: A Practical Guide.

In 2021, Zuckerman represented the Co-Chairs of the Senate and House Whistleblower Protection Caucus in an amicus curiae brief concerning the contributing factor causation standard in SOX whistleblower cases.

Board of Directors, The Anti-Fraud Coalition

Practical Law Labor & Employment Advisory Board member

Board of Directors, MWELA

Co-Chair of the Whistleblower Subcommittee of the ABA Labor and Employment Section’s Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee

Co-Chair, National Employment Lawyers Association’s Whistleblower Committee 2007-2010

Co-Chair of the Sarbanes-Oxley Subcommittee of the ABA Labor and Employment Fair Labor Standards Legislation Committee, 2009-2011

Co-Chair of the Whistleblower Committee of the District of Columbia Bar’s Labor and Employment Section

Member, Law 360’s Employment Editorial Advisory Board

Whistleblower Protections Under the National Defense Authorization Act, Practical Law (August 2017)

15 Years Of SOX: A Whistleblower Promise Unfulfilled, Law 360 (August 2017)

One Billion Reasons Why The SEC Whistleblower-Reward Program Is Effective, Forbes (July 2017)

Sarbanes-Oxley 15 Years Later: Accountants Need to Speak Up Now More Than Ever, Going Concern (July 2017)

Shkreli Trial Reveals the Challenges Faced by Compliance Whistleblowers, The Compliance and Ethics Blog (July 2017)

SEC Whistleblower Program: Tips from SEC Whistleblower Attorneys to Maximize an SEC Whistleblower Award, National Law Review (June 2017)

Comey Testimony Shows Value Of Whistleblower Protections, Law 360 (June 2017)

Auditors’ and accountants’ guide to SEC whistleblower awards, Accounting Today (April 2017)

Draining the Swamp Requires Robust Whistleblower Protections and Incentives, Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review (Jan. 2017)

The Rise of Cybersecurity Whistleblowing, NYU Law Compliance & Enforcement Blog (December 2016)

Boosting Contractor Employee Whistleblower Protections, Law 360 (December 2016)

SOX Win Shows Strong Need For Whistleblower Protections, Law 360 (November 2016)

Whistleblower Protections Under the Whistleblower Protection Act, Practical Law (October 2016)

DOL Clarifies Burden-Shifting Framework For Whistleblowers, Law 360 (October 2016)

Cybersecurity Whistleblowing: What Employees at Public Companies Should Know Before Reporting Information Security Concerns, ISSA Journal (June 2016)

The Evolution Of SOX: A Powerful Remedy For Retaliation, Law 360 (May 2016)

Whistleblower Protections and Incentives for Auditors and Accountants, Accounting Today (May 2016)

2016 Annual Update on the Whistleblower Provisions of SOX, American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Subcommittee on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (February 2016)

Recent Developments in Whistleblower Law, ABA 9th Annual Section of Labor & Employment Law Conference, November 7, 2015

SOX Whistleblower Protections Are Not Obsolete, Law 360 (September 2015)

Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program: A Game Changer for Securities Enforcement, Best Lawyers Business Edition (July 2015)

5 Years Of Dodd-Frank Taking Stock, Law 360 (July 2015)

SEC Issues Landmark Order Barring Gag Clauses, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law Flash (June 2015)

Sixth Circuit Hands A Landmark Victory To SOX Whistleblowers, Law 360 (June 2015)

Tax Whistleblower Statute: Obtaining Meaningful Appeals Through the Appropriate Scope of Review, Florida State University Law Review, Vol, 42, No. 3 (Spring 2015)

De Facto Gag Clauses- The Legality of Employment Agreements That Undermine Dodd-Frank’s Whistleblower Provisions, ABA J. Labor & Employment Law, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2014

2015 Annual Update on the Whistleblower Provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Subcommittee on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (February 2015)

A Year For Whistleblower Rewards And Protections, Law 360 (December 2014)

Developments and Trends in Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Litigation, ABA 8th Annual Section of Labor & Employment Law Conference, November 6, 2014

Recent Developments in Whistleblower Law, 44th Annual VBA Conference of Labor Relations and Employment Law, September 12, 2014

Whistleblower Support in Practice, a chapter in The International Handbook on Whistleblower Research(Edward Elgar Publishing 2014)

2014 Annual Update on the Whistleblower Provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Subcommittee on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (February 2014)

D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act, a chapter in the D.C. Practice Manual (D.C. Bar Publications)

Georgetown University

Bachelors

1992 - 1996

University of Virginia School of Law

J.D.

1997 - 2000