Whistleblowing & Compliance Law Blog : Whistleblowing Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Epstein Becker & Green Law Firm : Employment Retaliation, Compliance Counsel

In previous articles and postings, we have cautioned that legislative policy of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act threatens to circumvent corporate compliance programs and drive whistleblowers having vital information outside the organization in the hope of receiving rich bounty awards. In a recent article published by Bloomberg Law Reports®, Allen Roberts discusses some of the challenges businesses subject to SEC jurisdiction need to address in the face of the SEC’s Final Rule – mindful that the plaintiffs’ bar has geared up to capitalize on new opportunities.

For more information, see Allen B. Roberts, Dodd-Frank Bounty Awards and Protections Change Whistleblower Stakes -- Will Opporunity for Personal Gain Frustrate Corporate Compliance?, Bloomberg Law Reports - Securities Law (2011) (pdf)

This blog is dedicated to the many facets of whistleblowing and the tensions and contradictions that inhere in defining compliance objectives and the permissible means by which they will be attained and preserved. At its core, whistleblowing should be about corporate compliance and the common institutional and individual purpose of assuring that internal and external standards of conduct are respected. Reality may draw a another picture, perceived differently from the perspective of the individual and the institution – and by public opinion, media comment, markets, administrative, regulatory, enforcement or legislative bodies or by courts and juries.

Is the whistleblower a selfless altruist properly advancing compliance objectives or an individual bent on undeserved personal advantage by way of protection or windfall gain?

With this blog, we launch a dialogue, intending that it serve as a prism allowing light to be appreciated for its clarity and nuances, refraction and reflections. We will endeavor to protect against its becoming distorted, blinding or scorching.

Our lead posting draws initial baselines, more for placement of pieces that can be moved, enlarged, contracted and replaced than to prescribe or confine. We expect exploration to commence from there, perhaps with a deliberate return home from time to time for comfort and refreshment.

We look forward to the opportunity of sharing observations and experiences as we look at the emerging principles of whistleblowing and anticipate its changing contours.

For a review of recent developments in whistleblowing law, see Allen B. Roberts, Continuing Prominence Seen for Whistleblowers, as appeared in The New York Law Journal.