Cynthia Kouril has extensive background in municipal contracting, investigating and prosecuting public corruption and fraud against the  government.
             
As Assistant General Counsel for Capital Projects for New York City Parks & Recreation, she was responsible for the contract language for every  capital project let by the New York City Parks Department.   She was also responsible for litigating debarment proceedings against  contractors who failed to observe prevailing wage and other contracting regulations, or had committed fraud against the City or which were operated by  members of organized crime.  The first such litigation was  against an alter ego corporation of Arc Plumbing, the notorious “employer” of John Gotti.  Ms. Kouril was successful in keeping all Gotti affiliated firms out of Shea Stadium.
             
Later, Ms. Kouril became counsel to the Inspector General of New York City Department of Environmental Protection, a department with a yearly budget in excess of $2.5 billion dollars.  As Chief Legal Advisor to the Inspector General, then Inspector General Kevin J. Ford, Ms. Kouril  formulated investigative plans, approved search methods and reduced findings into referral memos and/or indictments for prosecution.
           
Ms. Kouril was also certified by the United States Attorney General as an  expert in government contracting.  This certification was part  of a finding by the Attorney General that Ms. Kouril possessed unique skills and expertise not found within the Department of Justice and was the rationale for her appointment as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where she served under three successive U.S. Attorneys.
           
At the United States Attorney’s Office, Ms. Kouril investigated and  prosecuted cases involving public corruption and fraud against the government, often involving members or associates of organized crime.   This included participation in task forces assembled from the FBI, IRS, Postal Inspector and Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of various federal  agencies, as well as the State Police and New York City Department of  Investigations.  A unique focus of Ms. Kouril’s prosecutorial career was her emphasis on restitution to the municipal victim and other victims  of the fraud and other criminal enterprises.  In this vein, she negotiated sentences involving restitution including U.S. v. Gallucci, and in U.S. v. Gelb which involved over $3 million dollars in restitution.  The case of U.S. v. Paccione, which involved $25 million dollars in forfeiture, was also prosecuted to conclusion in a joint effort by the DEP-IG’s Office, the New York City Sanitation Inspector  General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, EPA and other federal  agencies.
            
Ms. Kouril has also been a lecturer at St. John’s University teaching contracts and other business law courses.  While in private practice, Ms. Kouril and her then partner Robert L. Folks tried and sustained on appeal Kubecka v. State of New York, a suit on behalf of the widows of  two civilian informants who broke organized crime’s hold over the carting industry on Long Island.  This suit involved proving that the New York State Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) had failed to observe proper standards for the conduct of corruption investigations.  The  dramatic facts of the case and the obstacles involved in conducting a mob hit  murder investigation sans a Grand Jury, resulted in extensive newspaper coverage and programs on 60 Minutes and ABC’s 20/20. 
 
Ms. Kouril is often called upon by representatives of the New York Times and Newsday to provide expert opinion about developing news  involving public corruption, fraud against the government and organized crime,  and has been quoted in those publications as well as in the New York Law Journal and America Lawyer  Magazine.
            
A major facet of the her former practice involved representation of government and quasi government bodies.  Ms. Kouril  successfully argued the Summary Judgment of Cooke v. County of Suffolk, a  civil rights suit involving allegations of sexual harassment by a police officer  who was raped and stalked by a police deputy inspector.  This  successful disposition saved Suffolk County from exposure to a $30 million  dollar claim.  A former firm represented Chambers of Commerce  and Business Improvement Districts in addition to other governmental  clients. Ms. Kouril was the principal brief writer on those representations.
          
Ms. Kouril is the author of the policy document outlining the creation of a new Department of Investigations for the County of Nassau.  That plan was adopted and  implemented.   Prior to the appointment of the newly created Nassau County Commissioner of Investigations, Ms. Kouril personally conducted two IPSIG assignments for the County of Nassau.  The assignments included development of  investigative plans, witness interviews, retaining the services of NGH  Associates and directing their activities, and finalizing reports of the  conclusions of the investigation.  One report was forwarded to  the FBI by the County.
           
Ms. Kouril has been a speaker for both the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the Nassau County Bar Association, and is a member of the  Program Committee of the Federal Bar Council and was a member of the Election Law  Committee at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and is a member of theBest Practices & Procedures Subcommittee of the Internal Association of Independent Private Sector Inspector’s General  ("IAIPSIG").