5 September 2025
A lot of business owners say they’d stand by a whistleblower if they came forward. It sounds obvious, after all, who wouldn’t want to protect someone who speaks up about wrongdoing?
However, two ideas make a big difference to how that protection works: the burden of proof and vicarious liability.
Whistleblowing is when someone speaks up about serious wrongdoing that affects other people, not just themselves.
No, we are not talking about idle office gossip or a falling out between colleagues, but about exposing conduct that breaks the law, breaches professional rules, risks people’s safety, or undermines trust in the profession.
The key point is public interest.
In the legal and accountancy sectors, you’re trusted with people’s money, livelihoods, and confidential information.
If something is dishonest, unsafe, or unlawful, it rarely just stays within the office.
A cover-up in a legal case could mean the wrong person is convicted. An overlooked fraud in an audit could cost investors millions.
Mistakes or misconduct can ripple outward quickly, and by the time regulators or the courts get involved, the damage is usually done.
Without whistleblowers, some of the biggest corporate scandals would never have come to light.
Inside knowledge is often the only way serious breaches are spotted early.
In a legal practice:
In an accountancy firm:
In most disputes, the person making a claim has to prove it. Whistleblowing is different, as the balance shifts towards the whistleblower.
If an employee says they were dismissed or mistreated for speaking up, they don’t have to prove every detail beyond doubt. They just need to show enough for it to be a credible explanation.
From that point, it’s the employer who must prove that the individual being a whistleblower wasn’t the reason.
This reversal is intentional, as it stops organisations from brushing off claims with “that’s not why we acted” and puts the onus on them to show clear, credible, evidence-backed reasons for their decisions.
Good records, fair procedures, and consistent decision-making are your strongest defence.
Vicarious liability means a firm can be held legally responsible for what its staff do in the course of their work, even if the firm didn’t approve, authorise, or know about it.
If a manager sidelines, bullies, or otherwise mistreats a whistleblower, the firm can still be liable.
The only real defence is showing you took all reasonable steps to prevent it. That includes:
In law and accountancy, silence can be more damaging than noise.
If people don’t feel safe to speak up, you won’t hear about problems until they’ve escalated (possibly to the regulator or the press).
Understanding whistleblowing is all about building the kind of culture where doing the right thing is supported, not punished.
If your people don’t fully understand whistleblowing, including what it is, when it applies, how the law protects those who speak up and the process they need to follow, then you’re doing your firm and your staff a disservice and leaving them exposed.
Our Whistleblowing Essentials training is designed specifically for legal and accountancy professionals like yourselves.
In just a few bite-sized modules, your people will gain the clarity and confidence to deal with whistleblowing issues the right way.
Book a demo today and discover how our training platform can work for you.