Zachary Kitts named “Qui Tam Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America
August 15, 2019 — K&G Law Group is pleased to announce that founding partner Zachary Kitts was named “Qui Tam Lawyer of the Year” for the 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in America.
The 2020 edition marks the first year Best Lawyers has named a “Lawyer of the Year” for each category. “That certainly makes this particular honor unique, and hopefully it means there is a greater awareness of this area of practice” Kitts said.
For the 2020 Edition of Best Lawyers in America, 8.3 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in the inclusion of more than 62,000 lawyers, or approximately 5% of lawyers in private practice in the United States. However, only one lawyer from each practice area was chosen to be “Lawyer of the Year.”
Lawyers specializing in qui tam litigation under the federal False Claims Act are sometimes called “Whistleblower Lawyers.” Kitts was therefore pleased that Best Lawyers in America created a special category for Qui Tam lawyers: “I have always felt that it was more precise to call us qui tam lawyers, since we specialize in bringing claims on behalf of a third-party, like the United States or a state government.”
The other problem with the term “whistleblower” is that it involves unnecessary controversy. “There are many patriotic Americans who feel that people like Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Ed Snowden have committed serious crimes and belong in prison — other patriotic Americans regard these folks as heroes, but regardless of how a person feels about that controversy, fighting fraud on federal and state governments using the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act and the various state false claims acts is something that everyone agrees with” Kitts said.
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For almost 40 years, Best Lawyers has assisted those in need of legal services to identify the lawyers best qualified to represent them in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. Best Lawyers lists are published in leading local, regional, and national publications across the globe.