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Enron Mail |
Jeff, FYI. This is from Bill Urquhart, the lead litigation partner at the California law firm that is representing us in the Los Angeles litigation. Jim
-----Original Message----- From: "A William Urquhart" <awu@quinnemanuel.com<@ENRON [mailto:IMCEANOTES-+22A+20William+20Urquhart+22+20+3Cawu+40quinnemanuel+2Ecom+3E+40ENRON@ENRON.com] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 1:06 PM To: Derrick Jr., James Cc: msmith1@enron.com; Sanders, Richard; Williams, Robert C.; Vsharp@enron.com Subject: Teamwork Hi Jim-- The last month or so have been so hectic I have barely had time to breath. We have gone from fire to fire. Over the last 24 hours (since we submitted our last hurry up brief) I have been reflecting on the experience. To say it has been positive is an understatement. Under ordinary circumstances working under such continual pressure--with so much $ on the line--would have been stressful. However, when you work with Enron the opposite is true. There is such a sense of esprit d' corp that permeates your organization. It makes difficult things easy and the impossible, just another day in the office. There are no egos to trip over at Enron. When there is a problem to solve, it is everyone's problem. People are not afraid of asking questions. They keep questioning until they understand. Nobody minds repeating themselves. They are incredibly patient with outside lawyers--spending hours and hours bringing us up to speed. As you well know, yours is not a simple business. It is so refreshing. There are so many benefits to this team approach. 1. You get things right the first time. As you know, in any litigation is critical that the court view your side as the teller of truth. Because you get things right the first time, the company is not exposed to being discredited when the other side responds. 2. I would bet that Enron's outside legal bills are half what they would be otherwise. With most companies the outside (and inside) lawyers get a minimum of support from the business people. The business people view business as business and lawsuits as an annoyance. (I should say that I could never understand that given the direct Perhaps it is the trader mentality at the company. Perhaps it is an unwavering focus on the bottom line. Perhaps it is just that everyone feels they are a part of a team and they realize that by working together the team can achieve things that no one person can do working alone. Whatever the reason, the outside lawyer's job is made so much easier. That results in much, much lower legal bills. 3. You increase your chances of winning. The brainstorming is so valuable. 4. The outside lawyers, like me, feel they are part of the team. Outside lawyers do not feel as if they are on trial. They can ask the dumb questions. I know that all of us here are looking forward to the next opportunity to work with the Enron team. 5. Human nature being what it is--I think that when there are choices to be made as to whose work goes on the top of the pile--the Enron assignment goes to the top more often than not. You have built a great legal team. All of your legal staff should be proud of what they have built. Thanks for letting us come along for the ride. Regards, Bill A. William Urquhart Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP 865 South Figueroa Street, 10th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017 Tel: (213) 624-7707 Fax: (213) 624-0643 E-Mail: awu@quinnemanuel.com Web: http://www.quinnemanuel.com
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