Understanding Garrity and Kalkines Warnings in Government Investigations

A former Assistant United States Attorney, Justin Dillon now uses his years of litigation and investigative experience to defend clients in complex, high-stakes white-collar criminal and campus discipline cases. Justin combines a meticulous approach to investigating the facts with a deep knowledge of criminal and administrative procedure to vigorously protect his clients’ futures and reputations.

Justin helps his clients fight what are often the toughest battles they will ever face. In his white-collar practice, he has successfully defended the General Counsel of a public company in a foreign-bribery investigation, helped a government contractor avoid criminal charges after a lengthy federal investigation, and represented numerous individuals and small-business owners. He also frequently represents government employees under investigation for alleged ethical or criminal misconduct, including a former Cabinet secretary and numerous federal prosecutors. He has extensive experience with Offices of Inspector General and the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). He is also the former white-collar crime columnist for the website Above the Law; a collection of his columns is available here.

Justin has gained nationwide attention for his work representing students and professors in campus misconduct cases, which he and his firm have handled at more than 100 schools nationwide. Along with his colleague Chris Muha, he co-authored Title IX Hearings and Litigation: A Practitioner’s Guide, published by The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and available here to any member of FIRE’s Legal Network. He also co-authored, with his partner Matt Kaiser, The KaiserDillon Guide to Defending Yourself in a Campus Sexual Assault Case, which is available here. While many of his cases are successfully resolved on campus, Justin is not afraid to take it all the way to court—he was the first lawyer in the country to win summary judgment against a university in a campus sexual assault case, and he has never lost a Title IX lawsuit.

Immediately before joining KaiserDillon PLLC, Justin spent five and a half years as a federal prosecutor in Washington, DC, where he led more than 100 Grand Jury investigations, tried more than 60 criminal cases, and handled more than a dozen appeals.

Tony Vergnetti is the President and Founder of Federal Employee Defense Services, Inc. (FEDS Protection) headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, which has provided professional liability insurance coverage to the federal government employee and contractor community since 2007.

Prior to establishing FEDS, Tony was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux & Roth P.C. where he specialized in federal personnel and employment law, representing employees in disciplinary action cases, employment discrimination complaints, whistleblower and prohibited personnel practice cases, Inspector General (IG) and Internal Affairs investigations, security clearance issues (including federal contractors), and other employment matters in various forums such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Department of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA), as well as the federal district and appellate courts. He has also provided legal representation to small federal agencies on a multitude of personnel law matters.

Tony frequently hosts FEDtalk, a weekly radio show on Fridays, 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon (Eastern Time), Federal News Radio, 1500 AM that brings insider perspective from leaders in the federal community. He has also authored numerous articles and publications like the 2002 INSPECTOR GENERAL AND OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATIONS HANDBOOK (www.federalhandbooks.com); plus he has presented seminars to government executives and employees on numerous federal personnel law matters at training programs sponsored by FDR Conferences, Inc.

Prior to joining SBVR, Tony was an attorney with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Office of Chief Counsel (1997-2001) where he represented the Bureau in personnel and other employment/labor law matters before the various administrative tribunals (MSPB, EEOC, FLRA) and the Federal district or appellate courts. He also worked as an Appellate Attorney for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (1996) and served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Hart. T. Mankin, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (1995).

Tony has a B.A. degree from Arizona State University (1992) and law degrees from Widener University School of Law (1995) and the Georgetown University Law Center (1999 -- Masters of Law in Labor/Employment Law). Before college, he served on active duty in the United States Air Force (1985-1989). Tony is a member of the Bar in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and holds several surplus lines property and casualty insurance licenses.