John Phillips spent 17 years as a public-interest lawyer taking on racists, polluters and other miscreants.

FORBES: The Enforcer

It was pushed by a public-interest lawyer who then launched a practice for whistleblower cases, pocketing millions (see box, p. 92).

FORBES: The Dark Side of Whistleblowing

It was pushed by a public-interest lawyer who then launched a practice for whistleblower cases, pocketing millions (see box, p. 50).

FORBES: The Dark Side of Whistleblowing

The law languished for a century until it was revived in 1986 by Senator Grassley and John Phillips of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, the lawyer who later went into private practice to pursue whistleblower cases.

FORBES: Issues & Ideas

"The first bank started surcharging in 1996 and within three years the other banks had followed, " Tracy Shelton, a lawyer for the New York Public Interest Research Group, told BBC News.

BBC: NEWS | Business | UK 'risks' US-style bank charges