Joel D. Hesch is a leading national expert under the federal False Claims Act and
fraud against the government, including the Department of Justice reward program and the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower reward program. He is the author of
Whistleblowing: A Guide to Government Reward Programs (How to collect millions of dollars
for reporting fraud), an Amicus Brief before the United States Supreme Court, and a law
review article, which was cited five times in a brief before the Supreme Court, proposing
guidelines for the courts to follow in such cases. In addition to teaching law, Mr. Hesch
represents whistleblowers file for rewards. See www.HowToReportFraud.com 

For over fifteen years, Professor Hesch served as a Trial Attorney with the Civil Fraud
Section of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. This office has
nationwide responsibility for litigating significant False Claims Act cases and
overseeing the qui tam whistleblower reward program. While at the Department of Justice,
he led numerous fraud investigations affecting twenty different federal agencies. One of
these False Claims Act cases settled for $641 million, and the combined recoveries for
all of the cases on which he worked exceeded $1 billion and paid out more than $250
million in whistleblower rewards. For his efforts, he received several awards, including
a Special Commendation Award for outstanding service, a Meritorious Award, and twice a
Special Achievement Award for sustained and superior performance of duty in combating
fraud. 

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Professor Hesch worked for two years as an
associate attorney with the law firm of Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, in Washington,
D.C. During law school, he received two American Jurisprudence book awards for the
highest score in a first-year course and graduated fifth in his class. He also
participated in the D.C. Law Students in Court program, interned with the Army JAG Corp
in Frankfurt, West Germany, and was a member of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law
and Policy. 

Professor Hesch has been a member of the State Bar of the District of Columbia since 1989
and has been a member of the Christian Legal Society since 1990. He is admitted to
practice in Maryland, the District of Columbia, the United States Supreme Court, the
United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Tax Court.

General Law

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Restating the "Original Source Exception" to the False Claims Act's “Public Disclosure Bar”, Liberty University Law Review (2006)

The False Claims Act (FCA) is the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) primary litigative tool to...