Whistleblowers and Internal Investigations: Practical and Ethical Implications

In 2024, DOJ launched a new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program that incentivizes whistleblowers to report corporate misconduct in exchange for financial rewards. This new program provides significant incentive for employees to report internal company information to the government if they believe it demonstrates unlawful activity. Such an incentive places renewed emphasis on corporate investigations in the whistleblower context. This presentation will provide an overview of practical and ethical considerations when investigating a whistleblower complaint, including representation and privilege issues, treatment of whistleblowers, and considerations on whether to self-report to the government. It will also touch upon executive misconduct investigations and the unique aspects of these matters that need to be taken into consideration.

CLE Ethics credit is pending approval.