Last man standing at Andersen Legal

TONY Williams is the last lawyer left at Andersen's glittering headquarters on the Strand in London. But, unlike the accountants who will shortly embark on new careers at Deloitte & Touche, no desk awaits him. He, like the other 200 lawyers at Garretts, Andersen's pioneering legal arm, were left in the cold by the emergency rescue deal brokered by Andersen with its former rival.

Instead, it was left to Williams, Andersen Legal's managing partner, to find new jobs for many of the 50 partners and 150 associates and trainees as well as about 150 support staff. Williams has phoned round friends and contacts in London's top law firms, including former colleagues at Clifford Chance where he was managing partner for two years until 1999. Almost all but him now have new jobs.

It is some compensation for a man who feels that Garretts, the best known and most successful of all the big five accountancy firms' legal practices, has been sorely treated by its parent. 'Betrayed is too strong a word,' said Williams, who is now winding up the remaining legal business. 'You've got to understand the pressure Andersen was under to do a deal. But I am disappointed we weren't given the greater consideration which I thought we deserved.'

During its short existence, Garretts had become a byword among lawyers for multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) - that controversial union of lawyer and accountant which at one point promised a fundamental shake-up of the legal world. From just a handful of lawyers nearly a decade ago, it had grown into a sizeable practice with a turnover of £36m a year. Unlike the legal wings of some big accountants the vast majority of Garretts' work was independently generated, only 30% coming from in-house referrals.

Andersen Legal grew into the biggest international practice. In the late 1990s, Andersen was courted by top City firms including Wilde Sapte, and it was Andersen, not Wilde Sapte, that decided the firm was not good enough.

Few lawyers will be queueing up to join an accountancy firm in the post-Enron, post-Andersen era. But Williams is adamant that the concept of multi-disciplinary practices should not be tarred by the Enron/Andersen disaster.

'It's fair to say that the extent to which auditing practices can be in an MDP is questionable, but other professions, lawyers and tax advisers could still be open to combinations,' he said. 'We were making extremely good progress. Of course, some opponents of MDPs have used the collapse to say 'I told you so' but the MDP was not relevant to the disaster. If it was anything, it was an audit failure.'

A few brave souls among Williams' colleagues are prepared to give MDPs another go. Duncan Buchanan has joined KPMG outfit K Legal while Fiona Walkinshaw has gone to Ernst & Young firm Tite & Lewis. The vast majority have sought refuge with more traditional law firms.

Will Williams, planning to take a few weeks off to catch up on sleep, consider another job at an accountants? 'Pass,' said the ever-diplomatic lawyer.