Tom Devine (lawyer)

Tom Devine (born June 21, 1951) is an American lawyer, investigator, lobbyist, teacher, and advocate for whistleblower rights. He is currently the legal director at the non-profit Government Accountability Project, in Washington, D.C., where he has worked since 1979. He has assisted more than 7,000 whistleblowers, testified in Congress over 50 times, and has been a leader on the front lines to draft, enact, help to enact, or defend 34 whistleblower laws in the United States and abroad, including nearly all federal laws since 1978 and international rights ranging from former Soviet Bloc nations such as Kosovo, Serbia and Ukraine to the United Nations, World Bank, European Union, and Organization of American States.

He is also an adjunct professor at the District of Columbia School of Law, where he teaches classes on and supervises clinical programs in whistleblower protection.

Early life and education

Devine was raised in a working-class family in Elmwood Park, Ill. His late father was an inspector for a phone company. Devine participated in the debate team at Arlington High School and later was an All-American debater at Georgetown University, where he captained the team that set a still unbroken record for tournament championships. He graduated cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He enrolled in Antioch Law School in 1977 and, while a student, organized a legal clinic which sparked the survival and second generation of the whistleblower support organization, Government Accountability Project. After graduation in 1980, Devine assumed leadership of Government Accountability Project's substantive work, including litigation, investigations, legislative advocacy, media outreach, and grassroots public education.