Law Commons^™

Arthur Andersen And The Temple Of Doom, Jeffrey S. Kinsler

Law Faculty Scholarship

The story of Nancy Temple ("Temple") and Arthur Andersen ("Andersen") is infamous in legal ethics. Temple was the in-house lawyer that advised Andersen's employees to shred documents on the eve of the Security and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") investigation of Enron Corporation ("Enron"). Temple's advice triggered a string of events that culminated in the needless demise of America's fifth-largest accounting firm. By contrast, my Arthur Andersen story is unknown, until now that is. In late 1999, I was offered the position on Andersen's in-house staff that Temple ultimately accepted. I declined the offer, for I suspected that Andersen was not seeking …