SC Lawyer, July 2006, #4. Enron and you.

• Author: By John Freeman

South Carolina Lawyer

Ethics Columns.

SC Lawyer, July 2006, #4.

Enron and you

South Carolina LawyerJuly 2006Enron and youBy John FreemanKen Lay and Jeffrey Skilling's recent convictions guarantee that, absent appellate reversals, each will spend most or all of his remaining years behind bars. That two former corporate management titans will soon be eating at government expense is a spectacle many ethics teachers are studying. What lessons does Enron's demise hold for us? The answer is, "many."

First and foremost, what Enron teaches is that hubris is not only ill-becoming, it is a dangerous personal quality. "Hubris" is a great word. According to online authority Wikipedia, it connotes "exaggerated pride or selfconfidence, often resulting in fatal retribution." Hubris, in other words, is arrogance that invites punishment.

Wise people, including accomplished lawyers, do not exude hubris. The most respected professionals tend to be those who have earned great esteem but are blessed with the humility to present themselves to all as genuinely warm, caring and approachable. What goes around tends to come around in the legal profession, and prima donnas tend to get theirs eventually.

Ken Lay, it turns out, was...