Finding the right whistleblower attorney for your needs in Miami is not always easy. While far from the biggest field in federal and state laws, there are still dozens of Florida whistleblower lawyers and law firms to choose from and, if you aim to pitch your case to a federal agency, you are not confined to local firms in Miami for whistleblower protection. Hiring the wrong one for your whistleblower lawsuit, though, can seriously undermine your odds of success.

Here are several things to consider when choosing which lawyer to hire for your whistleblower case.

Experience in Your Field or Industry Matters

Many people think that whistleblower lawyers would be equally capable of handling cases in vastly different fields. Few people are aware of how different whistleblowing cases become when they involve fact patterns from different industries or fields. Whistleblower cases involving environmental violations, for example, are fundamentally different from those involving the False Claims Act, accounting, or investment fraud. Not only are the whistleblower laws themselves different in nuanced but often very important ways; the factual circumstances may present difficulties to attorneys who do not have a background in the field.

This is why you should look past the label “whistleblower attorney” and break the field down into its constituent parts. The best lawyer for your needs would be one that does not handle whistleblower cases in general, but whistleblower cases in your field. They will be much more familiar with the laws and the regulatory framework that you are claiming is being violated, and will have a background in the field that helps them understand and appreciate the allegations that you are making.

A few concrete things to look for are:

• Prior whistleblower case results involving whistleblower cases similar to your own
• An undergraduate or graduate degree in a subject that has real application in your field
• Publications in your field or at least adjacent to it
• Community service projects relevant to what you are blowing the whistle on
• Online content or blog posts that show a close familiarity with the issue in your case

A Background in Federal Law Enforcement Can Help

The key goal of most whistleblower cases is to convince the federal government to intervene in it and take over the investigation. While the whistleblower reward would be lower, it is because a government agency would be conducting most of the investigation, rather than you and your legal team.

Knowing what sorts of cases are likely to attract the attention of the appropriate federal law enforcement agency is very important, and the best way for a lawyer to have that knowledge is to have worked within the agency before becoming a whistleblower lawyer. This is not an uncommon career trajectory for whistleblower lawyers in Miami, and the insight that it gives them can make a huge difference in the outcome of your case because they will know what kinds of evidence speak the loudest to the people you need to persuade.

Resources to Do the Full Investigation

While the goal of most whistleblower cases is to get a federal agency to intervene, the reality is that these agencies do not take on all of the whistleblower claims that come to them. In fact, they likely decline to intervene more often than they get involved.

For this reason, you need the legal representation of a firm that has the capacity to do the entire investigation – not just present your case to the government.

Unfortunately, whistleblower investigations are often massive undertakings. Getting the corporate suspect to hand over relevant evidence in the discovery process is tricky, and gathering that evidence on your own is risky and difficult. Worse, many defendants in these cases aim to overwhelm small legal teams by over-disclosing in the discovery stage, forcing them to wade through reams of irrelevant material to find incriminating details.

It is not unusual for these tactics to work when the whistleblower is represented by a small law firm that only has a couple of lawyers and investigators. They simply do not have the ability to keep things moving forward.

Furthermore, whistleblower cases are usually handled by law firms on a contingency fee basis, so the firm does not make money on your case unless and until it secures a whistleblower reward for you. Given that these cases are also fairly costly to conduct, you will be much better off if you are represented by a large law firm that is not putting itself at financial risk to take your case on.

You Should Feel Like You Can Comfortably Trust Your Lawyer

This applies to any legal matter, but it is especially true in whistleblower cases: Your ability to trust your lawyer is extremely important. You are, after all, putting your professional future into their hands by relying on their advice for how to proceed with your investigation. You need to be sure that they have your interests in mind.

Obviously, trustworthiness can be a very difficult trait to see in someone. Experienced whistleblower lawyers who have represented numerous clients in the past will have shown that they can be trusted. However, settling your feelings on this matter is something that only you can do.

Your Lawyer Should Take Measures to Maintain Your Privacy

Particularly in the early stages of a whistleblower case, maintaining your privacy and ensuring that you are not exposed to the corporate suspect is extremely important. If someone like a supervisor learns that you are gathering evidence of misconduct in order to blow the whistle on it, you can lose both your job and the access to the damning information that you need to make your case.

Dr. Nick Oberheiden, founding partner of the national whistleblower law firm Oberheiden P.C., says that, “Whistleblower lawyers need to take affirmative steps to ensure that their whistleblowing client does not make a mistake or get discovered, while also being prepared to take immediate action if it does happen. This is the worst outcome that can occur in a whistleblowing case, and should be avoided at all costs – even those that might feel paranoid to inexperienced whistleblowers.”