Is there a common law right of in-house counsel to maintain retaliatory discharge claims?

Although none has involved the common law right of in-house counsel to maintain retaliatory discharge claims presented by the complaint in this case, several cases have recognized the importance of professional ethical codes as a counterweight to employer overreaching. In Parker v. M & T Chemicals, Inc. (1989) 236 N.J.Super. 451, 566 A.2d 215, for example, the chief in-house patent attorney for a manufacturer of electronic chemicals, alleging that he was demoted and later constructively discharged for refusing to copy [7 Cal.4th 1187] technical information purloined from a sealed federal court file, filed a damage suit under the New Jersey whistle-blower statute. The company defended on the ground that "a client has a right to discharge an attorney employed by a corporation as house counsel, with or without cause, and without fear of sanction ... at any time the client corporation chooses to end the relationship, notwithstanding the provisions [of the whistle-blower statute] ..." (Id. at p. 219.)