Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto

What Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto does

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto (KKC) is a Washington, DC-based, private law firm (LLP) founded in 1988 that specializes in representing whistleblowers in high-stakes qui tam and federal reward proceedings. The firm's practice is anchored in the False Claims Act, SEC, CFTC, IRS, and AML whistleblower programs, with additional capabilities in FCPA, healthcare fraud, defense contract fraud, environmental crimes, retaliation, cryptocurrency fraud, ESG, cybersecurity, and illegal non-disclosure agreements. Its core product is end-to-end legal representation for individual whistleblowers — from intake and filing through government investigation, litigation, and award collection — and the firm's partners are widely credited with helping to shape modern whistleblower law.

KKC operates on a contingency-fee model, typically retaining 30-40% of client recoveries, which aligns its economics with the size and outcome of each underlying enforcement action. The firm's track record includes $6.3 billion+ in cumulative client recoveries and is the only firm to have secured three separate whistleblower awards of $100 million or more, including the landmark Birkenfeld/IRS matter ($104 million) and representation of the Danske Bank/Howard Wilkinson whistleblower tied to a $2 billion penalty. Beyond case work, KKC co-founded the National Whistleblower Center and actively lobbies for whistleblower-protective legislation such as the AML Whistleblower Improvement Act, giving it policy influence unusual for a boutique firm. The client base is international (75+ countries) and concentrated in senior corporate insiders, executives, and financial professionals capable of sustaining multi-year litigation, with no platform or SaaS technology layer described in the public material.

Name

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto

Legal name

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP

Website

https://kkc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto is a Washington, DC whistleblower law firm founded in 1988 that represents individuals in qui tam, SEC, CFTC, IRS, and AML reward cases. It operates on contingency fees and has helped clients recover more than $6.3 billion.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Whistleblower Legal Services

NAICS

Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Policy Management, Training & Ethics/Whistleblowing (BPAEAPAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Ethics, Integrity & Whistleblowing Program Advisory (BPAHAFAI)

Keywords

• Whistleblower legal representation
• Qui tam practice
• False claims act
• Securities fraud law
• International corruption law

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Legal Representation - Contingency Fees: The firm represents whistleblowers on a contingency fee basis, obtaining a percentage of final recovery. Clients pay no upfront fees and owe nothing if no recovery is obtained. This aligns firm incentives with client outcomes and enables representation regardless of client financial means.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto is a contingency-fee law firm that provides legal representation to individual whistleblowers seeking monetary awards and anti-retaliation protection under U.S. and international whistleblower reward programs, including the False Claims Act/qui tam, SEC, CFTC, IRS, anti-money laundering, FCPA, and other specialized whistleblower statutes. The firm also engages in pro bono policy advocacy, amicus briefs, and rulemaking comments to shape whistleblower legislation and regulation.

Product overview

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto is a law firm specializing in whistleblower legal representation and advocacy. The firm operates as a single unified legal services practice rather than a platform with modules. The core offering is legal representation for whistleblowers across multiple specialized practice areas including False Claims Act/Qui Tam litigation, SEC securities fraud, CFTC commodities fraud, IRS tax fraud, anti-money laundering, FCPA/foreign corruption, cryptocurrency fraud, healthcare fraud, defense contract fraud, whistleblower retaliation, and environmental crimes. The firm also provides extensive educational resources, publishes books on whistleblower law, and engages in pro bono advocacy to shape whistleblower legislation and regulation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Whistleblower Legal Representation Contingency-fee legal representation for individual whistleblowers reporting fraud, corruption, and misconduct under U.S. and international whistleblower reward programs. For individual whistleblowers globally seeking monetary awards and anti-retaliation protection.
• False Claims Act / Qui Tam Representation Contingency-fee legal representation for individuals reporting fraud against federal or state government contracts, including Medicare/Medicaid, defense procurement, and other government programs, with qui tam provisions allowing whistleblowers to file lawsuits on behalf of the government.
• SEC Securities Fraud Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for securities fraud and market manipulation whistleblowers seeking awards under the SEC Whistleblower Program established by the Dodd-Frank Act.
• CFTC Commodities Fraud Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for commodities fraud and market manipulation whistleblowers seeking awards under the CFTC Whistleblower Program.
• IRS Tax Fraud Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for criminal and non-criminal tax fraud or evasion whistleblowers seeking rewards through the IRS Whistleblower Program.
• Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for U.S. and international money laundering whistleblowers under the Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Improvement Act.
• FCPA / Foreign Corruption Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for foreign bribery and international corruption whistleblowers under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Cryptocurrency / Digital Assets Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for cryptocurrency and digital asset fraud whistleblowers reporting to SEC and other agencies.
• Healthcare / Medicare Fraud Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for Medicare and Medicaid fraud whistleblowers under federal healthcare fraud statutes.
• Defense Contract Fraud Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for defense and procurement fraud whistleblowers exposing fraud against government defense contracts.
• Whistleblower Retaliation Protection Legal representation for whistleblowers facing retaliation for reporting fraud, including wrongful termination, discrimination, and hostile work environment claims.
• Environmental Crimes Whistleblower Representation Legal representation for whistleblowers reporting environmental crimes and violations of environmental protection laws.
• Whistleblower Pro Bono Advocacy Public interest advocacy to enact, strengthen, and defend whistleblower laws through Congressional testimony, rulemaking comments, amicus briefs, and international education programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Only law firm to win 3 whistleblower awards over $100 million each
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• National Whistleblower CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1988Founding partners of KKC helped found the National Whistleblower Center in 1988. Stephen M. Kohn serves pro bono as Chairman of the Board. David Colapinto serves pro bono as general counsel. The firm maintains a 30+ year partnership with NWC, collaborating on policy advocacy, amicus briefs, rulemaking comments, and grassroots campaigns including the successful AML Whistleblower Improvement Act campaign.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• National Whistleblower Center: Non-profit organization co-founded by KKC's founding partners in 1988. Provides policy advocacy, public education, and referral support that funnels potential clients to KKC and other whistleblower firms.
• Taxpayers Against Fraud: Non-profit advocacy organization that supports qui tam whistleblowers and frequently refers matters to law firms including KKC. Operates as an ecosystem partner rather than a direct competitor.

Direct peers

• Labaton Sucharow: Securities litigation plaintiff firm with a dedicated SEC Whistleblower Practice. Closely comparable to KKC's securities fraud practice and shares the same SEC whistleblower award pipeline.
• Phillips & Cohen: One of the largest U.S. whistleblower law firms, with deep qui tam, SEC, and IRS whistleblower practices. Directly competes with KKC for the same high-value whistleblower cases and represents many of the original Dodd-Frank program participants.
• Zuckerman Law: Boutique whistleblower law firm led by Jason Zuckerman, focused on SEC, CFTC, and qui tam whistleblower representation. Competes directly with KKC for SEC whistleblower awards and retaliation claims.
• Getnick & Getnick: Niche whistleblower and qui tam firm with a long history in False Claims Act and IRS whistleblower matters. Targets the same class of individual whistleblowers and competes for contingency-fee engagements.
• Constantine Cannon: Plaintiff-side firm with a long-standing whistleblower and qui tam practice alongside antitrust. Targets the same client set (whistleblowers reporting fraud against the government) and competes for FCA/qui tam matters.

Broad incumbents

• Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann: Premier securities litigation firm with a robust whistleblower practice. While broader in scope than KKC, it competes for the largest SEC whistleblower cases and institutional plaintiff engagements.
• Hagens Berman: Large plaintiff firm with active qui tam and healthcare whistleblower practice. Competes with KKC on healthcare fraud and pharmaceutical kickback matters while handling a much broader plaintiff docket.
• Motley Rice: Large national plaintiff firm with a significant whistleblower and qui tam practice. Competes for major FCA matters and brings far greater scale and resources than KKC, particularly on multi-defendant litigation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kohn-kohn-colapinto-llp
• Xx.com/kkcwhistleblow

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto