May 29, 2025 | 3:00 P.M. – 3:45 P.M. ET
Executive Branch Updates: DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative

On May 19, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the U.S. Department of Justice was establishing “the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and, as appropriate, pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws."  Notably, the announcement "strongly encourages anyone with knowledge of discrimination by federal funding recipients to consider filing a qui tam action under the False Claims Act."  This development further highlights the need for colleges and universities to seek the advice of counsel and take expeditious steps to comply with federal civil rights laws and assess areas of risk for False Claims Act litigation. 

Please join us for this 45-minute audio-only briefing in which NACUA experts Hailyn Chen, Partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, and Michael Vernick, Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP will:  

  • Provide an update on the objective, scope, and potential impacts of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on colleges and universities; 

  • Review the basic tenets of the False Claims Act (FCA), its qui tam provision, and potential defenses; and 

  • Highlight practical considerations and approaches for identifying and lawfully addressing areas of heightened FCA risk at your institution.  

Who Should Attend?  

This briefing will be of interest to all in-house and outside college and university counsel. 

Note: This program is part of NACUA’s “Executive Branch Updates” series, which follows the Transition Updates: The First 100 Days series. 

Speaker(s)

Hailyn Chen

Chen, Hailyn

Hailyn Chen is known as a leader inside and outside the courtroom, with a practice focused on complex business litigation, white collar criminal defense, and government and internal investigations. She has earned a reputation as one of the nation’s leading lawyers, in particular for matters involving...

Michael Vernick

Mike VernickMichael J Vernick leads the firm's government contracts group and focuses his practice on the higher education, defense and life sciences sectors. His FCA experience extends into all aspects of government contracting, higher education and research funding, including cost allowability, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and ...

Recording

The MP3 recording is a complete recording of the briefing call and can be accessed free-of-charge for NACUA members shortly after ...

FAQ

A NACUA Briefing is a service offering timely education on breaking legal developments. Briefings are short, audio-only presentations that are ...

NACUA Briefings

NACUA Briefings are intended for NACUA members only and for their colleagues at member institutions. Members may freely...

NACUA Briefings are intended for NACUA members only and for their colleagues at member institutions. Members may freely share information included as part of a Briefing with their colleagues at member institutions but should not share the information in a manner that could result in broader public distribution. Briefings should not be considered to be or used as legal advice. Legal questions should be directed to institutional legal counsel.