Indeed, with Enron's overall finances under investigation, Vinson & Elkins's ties to some Enron transactions may come under scrutiny.

Mr. Stewart, however, wanted to preserve his documents, Ms. Sorrell said, in order to show that Andersen accounting experts had reviewed certain Enron transactions.

Arthur Andersen signed off on a crucial Enron transaction in 1998 without seeing critical documents, the auditing firm has told Congressional investigators.

Mr. Posoli cautioned against trying to assign a profit margin to the Enron transactions.

"It would be very difficult to try to back into a gross margin for the Enron transactions," he said.

As for Andersen, the partner continued, an auditor in the field was apparently able to decide how to account for Enron transactions, over the recommendations of the firm's professional standards group.

When Mr. Mintz began sending the memorandums questioning the Enron transactions in January 2001, he had just been hired as general counsel of the company's global finance unit.

They stated that their accounting for derivatives and energy trading is proper and that the Enron transactions would have been conducted no matter what.

Ms. Kowalski's lawyer, R. Bartley Halloran, said that all the spending was properly authorized, and that "she did not have anything to do with the Enron transaction."

Some Enron transactions clearly violated the law, though no one knows right now whether Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay were aware of the illegality.