What About Enron's Lawyers?

These are not happy days for Enron Corp.'s hired hands. The company's auditor, Arthur Andersen LLP, has been driven out of business. Its bankers, including Citigroup (C ) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM ), have been pilloried repeatedly, most recently in the Senate on Dec. 11.

But one group of professionals has so far escaped the inquisition: the energy giant's lawyers. They have been accused of no crimes, have paid no big fines, and are taking a hard line against critics. "There's nothing that I'm aware of that we would change," Joseph C. Dilg, managing partner of the Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins, told the House Energy & Commerce Committee in March. "We never saw anything at Enron that we considered illegal."