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BIG PICTURE
THE CLASSIC NOTION OF THE WHISTLEBLOWER IS THE LITTLE GUY - LONE,
PRINCIPLED AND CONFLICTED, FIGHTING A DAVID AND GOLIATH BATTLE
AGAINST A STONY AND FACELESS CORPORATION. ARE THEY HEROES? OR
ARE THEY UNSCRUPULOUS AND OUT FOR WHAT THEY CAN GET?
BY
ADRIAN HOLLIDAY
AND
CATHERINE McGREGOR
WHISTLEBLOWERS AND
THE IN-HOUSE LAWYER -
A QUESTION OF ETHICS
AND OBJECTIVITY
T
he term whistleblower is said to have
been coined in the 1970s by US activist
Ralph Nader to avoid the negative
connotations of terms such as ‘informer’ and
‘snitch’, instead invoking the referee in a
sports match, blowing the whistle to stop the
game when there is unfair play.
No matter how concerned and engaged the
general counsel, bad actors are potentially
everywhere. So provision of mechanisms and
protections for whistleblowers in all industries
are an accepted fact of doing business in the
21st century, right? Wrong. Even in 2014, many
companies have neither formal whistleblowing