The Washington Foreign Law Society
Presents
Issues and Trends in International Anti-Corruption Law
(Part 2)
Panel Discussion: Public and Private Whistleblowers and The Need for Legal and Financial Assistance
Tuesday, March 30th, 2021
from 5:30 to 6:30 PM ET
Whistleblowers come in all types and nationalities. They can be private, such as company or agency employees who seek to bring misconduct to the attention of their superiors, or public, ranging from anti-corruption activists to company or agency employees who believe only public disclosure can remedy the misconduct that their organizations are ignoring.
Whether private or public, the consequences of their disclosures can include dismissal from their jobs, loss of income, and threats to their personal safety – and, in the case of some anti-corruption activists, arbitrary detention and even imprisonment or death. Yet even after various jurisdictions have adopted whistleblower-protection legislation and set up programs to encourage whistleblowers to come forward to report misconduct, whistleblowers in many countries continue to put their careers, their livelihood, and even their physical safety at risk without having reliable legal and financial assistance on which they can depend.
Join the Washington Foreign Law Society (WFLS) on Tuesday, March 30th, 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5) for Public and Private Whistleblowers and The Need for Legal and Financial Assistance, featuring Jonathan J. Rusch, adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and American University Washington College of Law, and Wim Vandekerckhove, Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Greenwich and a specialist on whistleblower matters, for this fascinating hour-long discussion.
WFLS President Giuliana Canè will host the discussion, moderated by Pascale Helene Dubois, International Executive Advisor and Independent Expert, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and member of the WFLS Board of Governors.
JONATHAN J. RUSCH is a practicing lawyer in Washington, D.C., Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and American University Washington College of Law, and Principal of DTG Risk & Compliance LLC. Previously, Mr. Rusch was Senior Vice President and Head of Anti-Bribery & Corruption Governance at Wells Fargo & Company, and a federal prosecutor for 26 years in the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, most recently as Deputy Chief for Strategy and Policy; Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Enforcement; Counsel to the President’s Commission on Organized Crime; and an associate with the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. His awards include the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Attorney General’s Award for Fraud Prevention, and the United Kingdom Serious and Organised Crime Agency Director-General’s Commendation.
Mr. Rusch also serves as a Senior Fellow with the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement at New York University Law School, and a member of the Practitioner Advisory Council with the University of Maryland’s Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Risk, and Crime. He has previously been Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia Law School and a visiting professor at the China University of Political Science and Law. Mr. Rusch received a B.A. degree with honors from Princeton University, an M.A. (Government) degree from the University of Virginia, and a J.D. degree from the University of Virginia Law School.
WIM VANDEKERCKHOVE is Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Greenwich. Wim has provided expertise on whistleblowing to various organisations, including Council of Europe, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Transparency International, Public Services International, the Whistleblower Advice Centre in the Netherlands, the UK Department of Health, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the British Standards Institute (BSI), and the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA). He is currently the convenor for ISO37002, the international standard for whistleblowing management systems. Wim is also co-director of the Centre of Research on Employment and Work (CREW) at the University of Greenwich, and is the editor-in-chief of Philosophy of Management (Springer). His scholarship has featured in various journals, including Journal of Business Ethics, Organization Studies, Business Ethics European Review, and Business Ethics Quarterly. His monographs include Whistleblowing and Organisational Social Responsibility (Ashgate/Routledge), and The Whistleblowing Guide: Speak-Up Arrangements, Challenges, and Best Practices (Wiley). Wim holds a Phd in Applied Ethics from Ghent University and was a visiting scholar at the University of Oslo in 2007 (Centre for Development and the Environment SUM), and a visiting fellow at Griffith University in 2020 (Centre for Governance and Public Policy).