Financial Times Names Neil Getnick of Getnick Law to Its 2025 Innovative Lawyers Shortlist

Getnick recognized for his recent work in a historic IRS tax whistleblower case and his role in advocating for the pending implementation of HMRC’s new tax whistleblower program

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Financial Times has announced that Neil Getnick, the managing partner of Getnick Law, has been shortlisted for the FT Innovative Lawyers North America Awards 2025 in the Innovative Practitioner category. The awards honor law firms, in-house teams, and individual lawyers who are “using innovative approaches to deliver exceptional value to business and society.”

The Financial Times recognized Mr. Getnick for his recent work in a historic tax whistleblower matter and his role in the implementation of a tax whistleblower initiative being launched by the HMRC, the United Kingdom’s tax, payments and customs authority

The tax whistleblower matter, which Mr. Getnick worked on with co-lead counsel Margaret J. Finerty, his wife and law partner, and law partner Richard Dircks, concluded last year with a $263 million tax fraud recovery from an individual taxpayer under the IRS Whistleblower Program. It was one of the largest tax whistleblower cases ever.

The HMRC’s initiative is aimed at adopting a tax whistleblower program similar to the IRS program. The HMRC announced its plans last spring and is expected to launch the program soon. Upon invitation, Mr. Getnick recently moderated a plenary workshop panel at the prestigious annual Cambridge University Economic Crime Symposium on “HMRC's New Tax Whistleblower Initiative: Applying the successful U.S. whistleblower award model to the U.K. and E.U.”

Regarding his advocacy of the HMRC initiative, Mr. Getnick says: “I believe that the HMRC rewards program is an extraordinarily important breakthrough in the fight against economic crime through whistleblower rewards. The U.S. has greatly benefitted from a succession of successful whistleblower reward programs since the passage of the 1986 federal False Claims Act amendments which reinvigorated that law. At the same time, the U.K. and E.U. have remained resistant to such programs. That is about to change with the pending launch of the HMRC rewards program and the likely initiation of a rewards program by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office in the near future. Even in Europe which, up until now, has been the most highly resistant to such programs, the announcement of the impending HMRC rewards program has sparked a level of interest never seen before. What is about to happen with the introduction of HMRC’s rewards program in the U.K. is of potential monumental importance in the worldwide fight against economic crime.”

The shortlist in the Innovative Practitioner category includes 10 lawyers from throughout North America. The FT’s Innovative Lawyers Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York on December 8.

Getnick Law is a premier, New York-based, boutique law firm fighting fraud and promoting business integrity by representing whistleblowers under federal and state laws, conducting complex investigations and litigation, and counseling commercial clients throughout the country and internationally.