Almost half of in-house lawyers would be uncomfortable blowing the whistle on financial or accounting issues within their companies, according to a wide-ranging survey of more than 25 industry sectors to be published by the Law Society's Commerce and Industry (C&I) Group.

Sections of the survey - garnered from round-table forums staged earlier this year as part of a C&I consultation on the issue - were revealed at a session on corporate governance.It showed that more than a quarter (27%) of in-house lawyers said their roles had changed in the wake of the Enron scandal, and 65% said ethical issues had assumed greater importance within their organisations.

On financial and accounting matters, 43% said they would not be comfortable blowing the whistle, but they indicated there were alternative methods to deal with these issues.

The survey will be published later this month, and the C&I Group will follow this with ethics guidelines in the first quarter of next year.

Ann Page, the group's immediate past president and head of legal at the Co-operative Bank, said: 'An early indicator from the first cut of our survey confirms that the 21st century in-house lawyer has a unique role to play in business life: the role of keeper of the conscience and trusted adviser.'

Deepak Malhotra, the group's director of corporate governance, said: 'Clarity and guidance of reporting lines needs urgent focus, especially where the balance is struck between the role of keeper of the conscience and trusted adviser.'

Jeremy Fleming