Getting to Know Tony Munter (Part 2)

In the second segment of Getting to Know Tony Munter, we ask Tony about the types of cases he enjoys and finds interesting. He also talks about why he chose whistleblower law. You can also learn more about Tony Munter Whistleblower Attorney here.

What aspects of false claims acts cases are the most challenging or interesting?

Tony Munter: There’s an awful lot of different challenging aspects to it. I think in most litigation, you begin a case and you learn a lot about it through discovery, but in the False Claims Act (pdf), you have to front load as much as you can and learn as much as you can from your client about the case, because once you give the case over to the government, at least for some period of time, they’re going to be in charge of any investigation.

So there’s a lot of initial work that has to happen to be sure that you do have a good case and that you can make a case and hopefully, persuade the government to pursue a case. So that’s a challenge obviously.

Sometimes, because this is government contracting it can get complicated quickly if it’s a big complicated contract or a new type of procurement or something that’s an esoteric area involving for example a particular Medicare regulation. All of that can get challenging very quickly. So that can be fun.

Are there any specific types of whistleblower cases that you have enjoyed working on in the past?

Tony Munter: I have. I’ve enjoyed defense-contract types of cases and I’ve enjoyed Medicare type of cases. It mostly depends on the relationship with the client, I think makes it the most enjoyable. If you’ve got a solid relationship with the client, if you can work with them and work on the case and make it a stronger case, that’s a very gratifying experience.

You almost have to have that because these cases take a while so you have to be able to build that relationship with a client. I’ve had cases in defense, cases in procurement, cases in Medicare and Medicaid obviously, and those have been gratifying to do.

What made you choose whistleblower law as a career?

Tony Munter: Well, it’s everything I’ve said so far, but also I sleep at night knowing that when I bring a case, I’m bringing it on behalf of somebody who deeply believes that they’re right and we’re doing it on behalf of the government as well and we’re really on, I like to think, the right side of the entire process.

We may or we may not prevail but we are on the side of trying to protect the government, trying to protect individuals. We’re trying to protect the government and trying to recover money on behalf of all of us really and I know that it’s a pretty strenuous process to get a case to work.

So all of the kinds of things that people don’t enjoy about being lawyers don’t really apply to me. Or I’ll put it another way. All of the good things about being a lawyer do apply to me. I get to bring cases I really believe in and I get to work with clients that really believe in those cases and hopefully, we’re doing the right thing for the government and that’s a great thing, to be able to pursue cases in this manner.