John C. Hueston
On October 15, 2008 John C. Hueston came to campus as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. During his visit, Mr. Hueston met in small groups with students and faculty throughout the day. In the evening, he gave an informative presentation titled, “A Perfect Storm of Investigation and Governance Failures: Why Enron Failed and Why Its Failure is Relevant Today,” to an audience of about 250 students, faculty, alumni, and guests from the community. Hueston was presented the Accounting in the Public Interest Award by the Center for Accounting Ethics, Governance, and the Public Interest. The award was given in recognition of Mr. Hueston’s “commitment to the pursuit of justice and his dedication to the public interest.”
John Hueston has extensive jury trial experience, and has been selected to serve as lead trial counsel by Fortune 500 companies and by governments in a variety of cases, including shareholder class action cases, patent litigation cases, trademark infringement cases, environmental cases, and cases alleging unfair business practices. A former lead prosecutor for the Enron trials of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, Mr. Hueston also devotes a substantial part of his practice to internal investigations, corporate crisis management and white collar criminal defense.
California Lawyer magazine named Mr. Hueston a 2007 "California Attorney of the Year." The American Lawyer magazine recognized Mr. Hueston as one of the nation's Top 50 Young Litigators. Fortune magazine chose Mr. Hueston as one of 25 People Who Shaped the Face of Business in 2006. The Los Angeles Daily Journal named him as one of California’s 100 most influential lawyers (2006) and as a Top 20 California Lawyer Under 40 (2001). Chambers & Partners recognized Mr. Hueston as a leading litigation attorney for white-collar crime & government investigations in its 2008 Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business Guide. Mr. Hueston has never lost a trial.
In his formal presentation, Mr. Hueston discussed the role of the board of directors and the tone set at the top of Enron by Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. In large part, the disengaged board of directors and the aggressive tone set by management served to undermine the checks and balances of the corporate governance and compliance systems within Enron, ultimately contributing to its downfall. Mr. Hueston also drew parallels to the current financial crisis, pointing out similarities in behavior by corporate boards and management that led to inadequate monitoring of controls and poor business decisions. Hueston added that it remains to be seen whether there have been criminal activities in the current crisis, but that the public outcry for accountability will cause government agencies to investigate that possibility.