A brief brush with Enron: I remember thinking, 'I just don't understand how this company works.'.

• Author: Baker, III, James A.
• Position: ENDNOTE

ALMOST UNNOTICED in all the excitement when the White House changes hands from one party to the other is the operation of an iron law of politics: For each high-spirited newcomer, one weary officeholder from the outgoing administration is packing files and memories in cardboard boxes, saying goodbye to colleagues and power, and looking for a new job. In late 1992, one of those weary officeholders was me.

I would soon be 63, and my first project would be to repair the family finances. I had spent my prime years, so far at least, on a government payroll. My wife, Susan, and I were certainly well off when we came to Washington in 1981, but not, contrary to popular belief, extremely wealthy. Over 12 years, we had seriously tapped our family savings to pay living expenses and educate children.

Offers came almost immediately. They always do for high public officials who leave office. Multinational banks, major law firms, and Fortune 500 companies today operate in global markets, subject to the laws, regulations, and taxes of many nations, and vulnerable to disruptions--some swift, others slow-moving--in their economic and geopolitical environments. Cabinet officers and other top officials generally have useful experiences in steering through those heavy currents.

When the right opportunity finally knocked, fortunately, I found Bill Barnett of Houston on the other side of the door. We had met at the University of Texas School of Law in the mid-1950s. Now, more than 35 years later, Bill was one of the first visitors to my White House office after the November election. Thanks to his talent, hard work, and integrity, he was one of the most highly respected attorneys in Houston. More to the point, he was also managing partner of the law firm, today known as Baker Botts, that my great-grandfather James Addison Baker had helped build more than a century earlier. Bill proposed that I enter the firm all these years later as senior partner.

I told Bill I would not lobby, draft legal documents, handle routine business negotiations, or serve on the management committee. "I have managed everything I ever want to manage," I said. No problem, Bill replied. My role would be that of a graybeard, a special resource, an adviser to the firm and its clients on big or unique problems.

There is a tradition among big law firms of supplying candidates as directors for important clients, and I agreed to serve on the boards of two public companies. Why so few? Because...