Dana Gold '95 has devoted her career to safeguarding the public by protecting whistleblowers.
This story originally appeared in Lawyer, Fall 2024.
In an era when private interests often conflict with the greater good, Dana Gold fights on behalf of those who are often caught in the middle — courageous individuals who risk grave consequences to report serious government and corporate/contractor malfeasance.
“The role of whistleblowers is extremely important in reminding us that some practices are not okay, and that it is the duty of everyone to speak up when we see something wrong,” Gold said.
For most of her career, Gold has worked for the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that represents whistleblowers in litigation, advocates for whistleblower protections, and performs other related work. Based in Maine, Gold is currently the senior director of advocacy and policy, serving as chief strategist to determine priorities and oversee issue campaigns.
She first joined GAP in 1991 as a student fellow and fell in love with its mission and the work, but soon realized she would need a law degree to make the most impact.
“Knowing the law was really important in how to protect whistleblowers, so I had to learn how to navigate and understand their rights and risks,” she said.
Gold chose to enroll in Seattle U Law (then the University of Puget Sound School of Law) the following year when GAP opened a field office in Seattle. She entered with a clear vision— instilled by her family, who taught her the importance of doing what is right —to practice public interest law after graduation.
As a law student, she ushered in initiatives that continue to benefit students today, most notably founding the Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF), which just celebrated its 31styear, perfectly embodying Seattle University’s commitment to social justice.
“I felt that public interest law was important and that students should be exposed to it,” she said.
She also organized the first PILF Auction, which has grown into a signature law school event that raises tens of thousands of dollars each year to fund summer public interest fellowships for law students.
“Dana was a powerhouse as a student in establishing PILF,” said Association of American Law Schools Executive Director and CEO Kellye Testy, a former dean and faculty member who taught Gold. “I loved working with her to help further Seattle U Law’s mission and have been delighted to see her career progress in such meaningful ways. She is a great model of an engaged and effective lawyer-leader.”
GAP hired Gold again straight out of law school, where she went to work litigating complex whistleblower cases, representing individuals who witnessed unsafe and illegal practices related to food safety, climate science censorship, banking fraud, electronic surveillance, immigration detention, nuclear safety, and other issues.
She returned to Seattle U Law in 2002 to co-found with Testy the Center on Corporations, Law & Society, which Gold directed until she moved to Maine in 2008. Focusing on the intersection of social justice and corporate law profoundly informed how Gold approaches her work as a whistleblower advocate since she returned to GAP again in 2011.
“With the way our institutions are structured, without adequate oversight, I find it terrifying that we must depend on employees of conscience who are brave enough to risk their careers and livelihoods to speak up when they see unsafe practices, but we should be thankful for them,” Gold said.
Gold also directs GAP’s Democracy Protection Initiative, which supports witnesses to efforts to undermine elections. This has taken on greater urgency since the aftermath of the 2020 election, and with another important election looming this fall.
“To safeguard against potential election interference, we are working to ensure that election officials as well as federal employees who are vital guardrails of democracy are aware of their rights to report wrongdoing and have expert legal representation and support,” she said.