Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto
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 repor ...
, a Washington, D.C., USA, law firm specializing in employment law.
He received his J.D. degree from
Antioch School of Law
Antioch School of Law was a law school in Washington, D.C. which specialized in public advocacy. The school now operates as the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL).
The school was located on 16th Str ...
(Class of 1987) after graduating from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
with a B.A. in history.
While at Boston University, he was an investigative reporter for the ''b.u. exposure'', a student-run independent newspaper dedicated to exposing financial and ethical irregularities of the administration of B.U. President John Silber.
Colapinto was successful in the first case in which a " hostile work environment" was found to exist for a whistleblower who worked at a
nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
plant. He also helped obtain whistleblower protection for
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
employees and helped force the F.B.I. crime lab to obtain accreditation, the latter development involving him in the O. J. Simpson Trial. As co-counsel to Dr.
Frederic Whitehurst
Frederic "Fred" Whitehurst is an American chemist and attorney who served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory from 1986 to 1998. Concerned about problems he saw among agents, he went public as a whis ...
, Colapinto was behind the lawsuit that forced the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
to implement regulations protecting F.B.I. employee whistleblowers. He also served as counsel in the law firm's successful defense of
Linda Tripp
Linda Rose Tripp ( née Carotenuto; November 24, 1949 – April 8, 2020) was an American civil servant who played a prominent role in the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal of 1998. Tripp's action in illegally and secretly recording Monica Lewinsky's ...
in her Privacy Act lawsuit against the Departments of Justice and Defense and in defending Marita Murphy in her lawsuit Murphy v. IRS.
Colapinto is General Counsel for the Forensic Justice Project, and he also serves as general counsel for the
National Whistleblower Center 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 th ...
. He and his partners Stephen M. Kohn and Michael D. Kohn, are the authors of the book ''Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protections for Corporate Employees'' (Praeger Publishers, 2004).