A report that details how Enron Corp. exaggerated its worth and concealed losses through questionable financial transactions lays some of the blame for those deals on Vinson & Elkins, the company’s longstanding outside counsel, but the firm is doing some finger-pointing of its own. The report, released on Feb. 2 by a special investigative committee of three Enron board members, says V&E provided advice and prepared documentation in connection with certain off-balance-sheet transactions that the committee was asked to investigate.
Bill Powers, dean of the University of Texas School of Law, chaired the three-member committee established by the Enron board to investigate the transactions. But Powers disqualified himself from participating in judgments about V&E’s performance because of the close ties between the law school and the firm.
