Inhouse Whistleblowers: Retaliatory Discharge of Inhouse Counsel

• Posted by Geoffrey G. Gussis on March 31st, 2005


• Filed in Employment Law, Risk Management & Compliance

The folks at the Practising Law Institute have made another free download available that will be of interest to all inhouse counsel - Lucian T. Pera’s article "A Quick Tour of the Emerging Law of Retaliatory Discharge of In-House Counsel".  In the article, Pera focuses on the following questions:

• "Does the law permit a former corporate counsel to bring a claim against her former employer, despite centuries of law and ethics rules authorizing a client (here, the employer) to discharge a lawyer for almost any reason, at almost any time? If so, are there any limits on these causes of action?"
• "If a lawyer may bring such a claim, what about privileges and confidential information and documents? May a lawyer use such information and documents in pursuing her claim against her former employer? If so, are there any limits on her use?"

Certainly an important article for inhouse counsel in the post-Enron era.