The Law Society has included draft whistleblowing guidance in the second version of its evolving ethical practice framework for in-house solicitors.
Developed by Protect, the whistleblowing charity, the guidance sets out key points for in-house lawyers to think about before raising public interest concerns. These include considering whether reporting alleged wrongdoing would breach legal professional privilege, and situations when a solicitor comes under a duty to blow the whistle.
Categories of wrongdoing or malpractice covered include miscarriages of justice, damage to the environment, health and safety breaches, and criminal offences.
Chancery Lane has been working with the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre at the University of Leeds to develop the new ethics framework for the 34,500-plus in-house solicitors in England and Wales. The project is part of a three-year programme that has become increasingly urgent amid the fallout from the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Whistleblowing was identified as a ‘key priority’ for in-house solicitors. The ethics framework’s second iteration also includes a whistleblowing policy model template.
Society president Mark Evans said: 'I’d like to thank all members who helped us introduce several enhancements in the [framework’s] second iteration. Whistleblowing is a key plank in a resilient ethical organisational culture. However in-house solicitors’ duty to whistleblow could come into conflict with client confidentiality, making it difficult to know whether to report wrongdoing.'
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Dr Jim Baxter, professional ethics consultancy team leader at the IDEA Centre, said: ‘Whistleblowers can find themselves facing unemployment, legal costs or ostracism from colleagues who see them as disloyal. In-house solicitors can feel stuck between a rock and a hard place: as well as all the difficulties any whistleblower faces, they may also risk breaching a professional duty of client confidentiality.
‘The first version of our framework contained some provisions designed to make things easier; in this second version, we’ve partnered with Protect to approach whistleblowing head-on. Whistleblowing for in-house solicitors is never going to be easy or simple, but we hope these resources will go some way to support those who want to serve the public interest by standing up against wrongdoing.’
Other enhancements in the second version of the ethics framework include face-to-face training materials enabling practitioners to use interactive scenarios in team workshops; and guidance on how to position the framework with employers, ‘helping solicitors make the case for an empowered legal function’.
The new guidance has been put out for consultation until 26 January.
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