Frequently Asked Questions

No. The Fund’s role is to conduct an initial case review and make a referral. Your decision to hire an attorney is yours and yours alone. The Fund does not participate in any discussions you may have with an attorney we refer you to. The Fund does not make any recommendations concerning what attorney you should hire. A referral to an attorney is not a recommendation that you should hire that attorney.

All agreements between you and any attorney referred to you under this program are strictly between you and the attorney. You are free to decline representation from any attorney we refer to you. Once a referral is made, the Fund’s role is done.

* To ensure the independence of the ARP, neither the Fund nor the NWC self-refer intakes to attorneys who work for these organization, or who are trustees, directors, or contractors for these two organizations. If you want to contact any of these persons, please send an email to them directly.

Yes. The attorneys in our program do not take clients from our referral service pro bono. You will pay their usual billing or contingency fees. This agreement is between you and the attorney.  However, to ensure our program is accessible for users, no participating attorney shall ever bill a whistleblower contingency fee above 40%.

A contingency fee is where an attorney is paid a percentage of the settlement or monetary recovery in the case.

No. The Attorney Referral Program is offered as a free service. You will not be charged or be asked to pay any referral fees. An attorney we refer to you cannot charge you for the referral services. If you obtain an attorney through the program and are signed on as their client, they will charge you their usual billing fees.

To support the work of the National Whistleblower Center and to cover the costs of the ARP, some attorneys will donate a small portion of the fees obtained to the National Whistleblower Center when your case is resolved or settled.

NWC encourages and appreciates voluntary donations to help us fund our referral program. However, whistleblowers are not required to make such donations

Declination letters are not based on the merits of a case. It simply means that the ARP does not have an attorney in our network available to take the case. This could be due to the geographic constraints of the attorney network, limited capacity, or various other reasons. You should continue to search independently for an attorney while you await a decision from the ARP.

You will be notified via email when the Fund forwards your information to an attorney. Attorneys are asked to contact you directly within 5 days and decide if they will take your case within 30 days. All these communications are covered under the attorney-client privilege.

You will receive a declination letter containing information about other programs where you can search for an attorney if no attorney is available to take your case.

The ARP’s role in this process is finished.

Once the form is submitted, a whistleblower attorney licensed in Washington, D.C., will review the information provided. After review, an immediate decision will be made as to whether an attorney on our list may be interested in your case.

If  an attorney may be interested in your case, your information will be forwarded to them. They are asked to contact you directly and decide if they will take your case within 30 days.

All these communications are covered under the attorney-client privilege.

The ARP’s role in this process is done.