Vipal J. Patel

During his time with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, he served as the office’s acting US Attorney, First Assistant US Attorney, Criminal Chief and Deputy Criminal Chief. He served with distinction, in 2022 receiving the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) highest honor, an Attorney General’s Award. His work as an Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California included prosecuting healthcare and defense procurement related civil False Claims Act (FCA) and qui tam actions, as well as general criminal matters. He is a recipient of the US Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Award for his efforts in connection with a series of successful healthcare investigations and prosecutions under the FCA. Vipal also served as a volunteer criminal prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles and as a volunteer temporary judge for the County of Los Angeles. In addition to his extensive trial work, which includes having served as lead counsel in the first ever international terrorism trial held in the Southern District of Ohio, Vipal has significant appellate experience and has several published opinions to his credit. Prior to his government practice, Vipal worked as a business litigation associate and then partner with a law firm in Los Angeles.

Vipal has worked at the request of the DOJ as an evaluator of US Attorney’s Offices across the country, and served on a number of department committees. He spent 2011 in Afghanistan after he volunteered to serve a one-year anticorruption and counternarcotics Rule of Law assignment for the DOJ, working as a civilian advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Justice and judiciary, as well as other government and education institutions.

He has lectured on anticorruption and anti-money laundering topics domestically and abroad, including with the DOJ’s Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training program. An immigrant and naturalized citizen himself, Vipal has been asked by courts to speak at US Immigration and Naturalization ceremonies, and, also at courts’ request, he has served on various judicial selection and local court rules committees. He is an adjunct professor with the University of Dayton Law School, teaching federal criminal law and having taught courses on cybercrime, criminal procedure and international law, and has served as an instructor on trial advocacy and procedure at the DOJ’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.