The lawyer who helped lead the government’s case against Enron Corp.’s Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling has joined Irell & Manella LLP.
John C. Hueston, who lives in Corona del Mar, is set to work out of Irell & Manella’s Newport Beach and Los Angeles offices. He’ll join Irell & Manella on Nov. 9 as a partner in the firm’s litigation practice.
Hueston was head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Santa Ana and joined the government’s Enron task force in 2004 after being recommended for the work.
He said he went to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., for an interview and was tapped for the 35-lawyer Enron trial team, where he rose to become one of its key players.
“This was a trial on the national and international stage,” Hueston said. “It brought challenges that I had not faced before.”
Hueston said he commuted from OC to Houston where he lived in hotels before getting a corporate apartment during a two-and-a-half year period.
“It was tough with a wife and four kids,” he said. “I had great support from my wife and family. I just wanted to make sure that I finished what I started and saw the trial through to its end.”
The four-month Enron trial ended in May with the jury taking six days to convict Lay and Skilling of fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest corporate scandals in U.S. history.
Lay died of a heart attack on July 5 prior to sentencing. Skilling and others are slated to be sentenced on Oct. 23 in Houston.
Hueston doesn’t mince words about the Enron executives.
“Some people simply refuse to acknowledge guilt and apologize for what they’ve done,” he said. “Skilling and Lay were completely unremorseful and indignant.”
Much has been written of Hueston’s cross-examination of Lay.
The Houston Chronicle quoted a defense lawyer as saying Hueston had “ice in his veins” as he browbeat Lay on the stand.
Hueston was with the Santa Ana office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for roughly 13 years before he took the special prosecutor job in the Enron case.
After graduating from Yale Law School, Hueston worked as a law clerk for former federal judge Frank M. Johnson Jr., a legal giant who presided over many landmark civil rights rulings that helped end segregation in the South.
Johnson, who died in 1999, was a judge with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Montgomery, Ala.
As a mentor, Johnson advised Hueston to “seek complete professional fulfillment” and “look for the steepest hills to climb,” he said.
At Irell & Manella, Hueston expects to take the lead on trial work, including securities cases, white collar crime and intellectual property matters.
The firm said it expects Hueston to help with internal investigations and help corporations create compliance programs.
Irell & Manella counts about 50 lawyers. The firm has represented Irvine’s Broadcom Corp., Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. and Western Digital Corp. of Lake Forest, among others.
