President & Founder
Attorney Natalie Khawam is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. In addition to her law degree, she also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Science (MS) degree.
Ms. Khawam created the Whistleblower Law Firm in Tampa, Florida after working in both the Federal government and private sector for over 15 years. She has successfully represented her clients in many legal victories and attained significant legal settlements. Notably, Natalie’s arguments created new case law, and recently a Federal Court awarded a monumental judgement of over $166 million in one of her Qui Tam cases.
The Whistleblower Law Firm represents employees from various Federal agencies, including: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Postal Service (USPS), U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the United States Department of Defense (DOD). The Whistleblower Law Firm is local counsel to over a dozen American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local Unions throughout the country.
Veterans and their families are of the upmost importance to Ms. Khawam. She firmly believes that it is her duty to help protect the heroes who fought to protect our life and liberty! To accomplish this goal, she has crafted a specialized team of VA accredited attorneys, including: a former VA Claims Examiner (Rater), a VA Medical Officer, an attorney from the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), and Military Officers to assist and support Veterans. She successfully helps Veterans with increasing their disability compensation and filing appeals.
Practice Areas: Natalie exclusively practices Federal law, with a focus on whistleblower laws, including but not limited to:False Claims Act (Qui Tam), Medicare/Medicaid Fraud & Abuse, Whistleblower Protection Act (WPEA), and matters before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), Office of Special Counsel (OSC), Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Bar Admissions ~ Affiliations ~ Memberships: Natalie is admitted to practice in several Federal Courts across the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States of America.Ms. Khawam teaches Attorneys the False Claims Act for CLE credits in Florida. Furthermore, Natalie teaches Whistleblower laws to numerous federal government employees all over the country.
She is an active member of the Federal Bar Association, the American Bar Association (ABA), and continually sponsors the ABA’s annual Qui Tam conferences in Washington, DC. She is also honored to be an active member of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee (MVAC) of the Hillsborough County Bar Association.Natalie also volunteers her time as a Guardian ad Litem, for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program when she is not fiercely relentlessly advocating for her clients. She loves spending time with her son, and enjoys cooking, tennis, traveling, and swimming.
Alan Ripka, Esq
Partner
Mr. Ripka, a renowned trial attorney, is senior partner to the firm. He is admitted to practice before the Courts of the State of New York and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He holds various pro hac vice appointments, including in New Jersey, California and Florida. He began his legal career as a criminal prosecutor at the District Attorney’s office for Kings County. In 1992, he began in civil litigation, where he continues today, and has had New York State’s highest verdicts for the past five years.
Mr. Ripka currently practices in the areas of Medical Malpractice, Mass Tort, Products Liability, Consumer Fraud and General Negligence. He has tried countless cases to verdict and has recovered numerous awards over one million dollars. He is a member of the Medical Malpractice Hall of Fame, the American Bar Association and a former member of the Board of Directors for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.
Megan Stayskal
Paralegal
Megan Stayskal is an experienced professional who applies her natural business sense in her role as office manager of Khawam Ripka LLP. Megan overseers all day-to-day administrative functions and operations of the firm, and is completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies and Support with a concentration in Paralegal Studies from Purdue University.
Megan was born and raised in San Jose, California, is a proud mom of two little girls, and spouse to Sgt. Richard Stayskal whom the military medical malpractice bill is named after. Prior to joining the firm Megan attended nursing school until Richard was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.
When she is not supporting the firm and her family, she is zealously advocating for the rights of our nation’s military service members.
Babu Uthaman
CFO
Babu Uthaman is the Chief Financial Officer of Khawam Ripka, LLP and has been with the firm since the very beginning. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the States of New York and California.
Mr. Uthaman is also an Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Uthaman has a Master’s Degree in Accounting from India and has several years of financial reporting and tax accounting experience.
Darik Knutsen
IT Director
Darik Knutsen has over 17 years of professional IT experience. He currently runs an IT firm, Viking TSS, based in New York that that specialized in Law Firms all over the country.
A graduate of Northwestern University, he began his career while still in college as a consultant for the Kellogg School of Business. He worked as the senior network architect for a major hospital in Chicago. After moving to New York City, he took a position with corporate IT consulting firms before breaking out on his own. He specializes in providing infrastructure, support, and security to law firms. He is also an accomplished classical singer, and devoted supporter of the Performing Arts.
Security + Certified with CompTIA