Attorney fired for refusing to help a client commit fraud does not have a claim for wrongful discharge

About ten days ago, the Washington Court of Appeals issued a decision on whether an attorney can sue for wrongful discharge.  The court held that the attorney, who allegedly had been fired after she refused to perpetuate a fraud in a client's case, cannot assert the tort of wrongful discharge against the law firm that fired her. Instead, the court held the lawyer's sole remedy is to file an ethics complaint with disciplinary authorities. The case is called Weiss v. Lonnquist and it is available here.  

Like other court opinions that have taken this approach to the issue, the problem is that the result does nothing to deter wrongful conduct by law firms and goes a long way to discourage attorneys from doing the right thing.