Lawyer of the Year Image

On Friday, January 31, 2020, the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association named Mark S. Zaid and his co-counsel, Andrew P. Bakaj, “Lawyers of the Year” for their work representing the Intelligence Community Whistleblower whose disclosure led to the 2019 Impeachment Inquiry.

Mark was instrumental in working with Andrew on protecting the whistleblower and representing their interests throughout the process.

The MWELA “Lawyer of the Year” award is bestowed annually to one or two employment attorneys in the Washington, DC region whose significant accomplishments embody the mission of the association to advance and protect the rights of individuals.

MWELA is a 501(c)(4) organization comprised of over 300 lawyers who regularly advise and represent employees in employment and civil rights disputes. MWELA is the local chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, a national organization of more than 3,000 lawyers dedicated to the advancement of employee rights.

To learn more about MWELA, click here.

A U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana today ruled that Managing Partner Mark S. Zaid was an expert on prepublication review classification challenges. The decision was issued in the case of Matthew Bissonnette v. Kevin Podlaski et al., which is a legal malpractice lawsuit arising from the 2012 publication of the NYT’s best seller No Easy Day. Bissonnette, who hired Mr. Zaid as his expert witness, was a member of Seal Team Six on the raid that killed Bin Laden in 2011.

The Court’s decision can be read here.

Mr. Zaid has handled more prepublication review challenges than any other lawyer.

On June 11, 2018, Managing Attorney Mark Zaid and colleagues Andrew Bakaj and Dan Meyer will be teaching a DC Bar Continuing Legal Education Course on Handling Whistleblower Claims. To register, click on the link here. For those unable to attend in person, there will also be an on-demand webinar of this course.

Description: Some might say whistleblowers are the lifeblood of government transparency. But how, as attorneys, do you best represent those who wish to expose alleged wrongdoing of their employer? Where do you take them? What if the information is classified and against the law to reveal, even to you as the attorney? What is the difference between leaking and whistleblowing? Can government agencies bar whistleblowing through non-disclosures agreement or policies? What significant legal differences exist between protecting a whistleblower’s security clearance and other forms of reprisal? Learn how best to handle whistleblower cases from distinguished experts with years of practical experience from within and outside the federal government. This class will explore the applicable laws and provide practical anecdotes from various whistleblower scenarios and cases.

Faculty: Andrew Bakaj, Compass Rose Legal Group, PLLC; Dan Meyer, former Executive Director for Intelligence Community Whistleblowing & Source Protection, Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community; Mark S. Zaid (Course Chair), Law Office of Mark S. Zaid, P.C.

Mark S. Zaid, P.C.