Shaw Pittman Litigator Offers First Comprehensive Analysis of Sarbanes-Oxley's Landmark Whistleblower Provisions

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2005—

Attorney Daniel Westman Introduces "Undersight" Concept and Provides Guidance to Corporations, Lawyers and Board Members in Post-Enron Era

The recently published "Whistleblowing: The Law of Retaliatory Discharge," Second Edition (BNA Books, 2004) by lead author Daniel P. Westman introduces the concept of undersight to the corporate lexicon. Undersight refers to creating safe internal channels for information gathering throughout the workforce, thus extending and complementing existing oversight safeguards.

"The importance of undersight in the context of Sarbanes-Oxley and indeed the modern corporate world has been overlooked until now," states Mr. Westman. "Information obtained from all rungs of the corporate ladder is critical to creating a transparent environment of honesty and openness. These characteristics are in turn critical to compliance with the whistleblower provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley."

The book, co-authored by Nancy Modesitt of American University's Washington College of Law, serves as the first comprehensive analysis of the landmark whistleblowing protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. It is an update of Westman's seminal 1991 whistleblowing text and explores the subject post-Enron, counseling executives, attorneys and board members on creating an operating environment that follows both the spirit and the letter of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Mr. Westman, a partner at Washington, D.C.-based Shaw Pittman LLP who has litigated whistleblower cases for over 20 years, reminds readers that public company executives are now personally at risk of jail and/or fines up to $1 million for failure to comply with the whistleblower provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley.

"The new edition is written to educate publicly traded companies, and non-public companies who serve them, on the whistleblower compliance requirements and penalties of Sarbanes-Oxley. It provides a roadmap to the new realities of corporate America," says Mr. Westman. "The overwhelming majority of American business leaders aim to do what's right, not only to ensure personal protection, but to earn the public trust. This book is a practical tool to help them with their efforts."

Whistleblowing encourages executives, corporate counsel, board members and managers to think in terms of specific best practices for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, including:

-- Taking steps to ensure that honest disclosures by employees, vendors and strategic partners are encouraged and facilitated
-- Ensuring that the legal status of whistleblowers is protected
-- Installing anonymous 1-800 dial-ins that protect the identity of whistleblowers
-- Delegating information review to corporate board members
-- Protecting against false and malicious allegations
-- Establishing Corporate Codes of Conduct
-- Strategies for litigating cases before the Department of Labor and other federal agencies

Mr. Westman notes that the updated edition of "Whistleblowing: The Law of Retaliatory Discharge," was prompted not only by Sarbanes-Oxley but also by the public re-emergence of the whistleblower.

"Some of the greatest corporate scandals in American business history occurred in the past five years, and the majority of those companies, like Enron and WorldCom, involved whistleblowers," explains Mr. Westman. "Whistleblowing directly affects corporate life at every level, both by the disclosures that whistleblowers make and by what happens after the disclosures become known. It was indeed time to present another view of a business topic that has taken significant new directions after Sarbanes-Oxley."

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Whistleblowing: The Law of Retaliatory Discharge, Second Edition
427 pages
ISBN 1-57018-477-1
Order #1477
$175.00 plus tax, shipping, and handling
May be purchased from:
BNA Books
PO Box 7814
Edison, NJ 08818-7814
Telephone orders: 1-800-960-1220 or visit http://storefront.bnabooks.com/epages/bnabooks.storefront/en/product/1477

ABOUT SHAW PITTMAN LLP

Based in Washington, D.C., Shaw Pittman is recognized for its leading global, national and regional practices. The law firm counsels a wide range of clients from emerging businesses to Fortune 500 companies, government entities and not-for-profit organizations. Founded in 1954, the firm celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2004. Shaw Pittman has 380 lawyers and non-lawyer professionals and serves clients from its offices in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, New York, London and most recently, Taipei and Northern California. For information about Shaw Pittman, please contact Diane Helyne Zyats at 202.663.8331 or diane.zyats@shawpittman.com.

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