After Enron, firms 'more receptive' to ethics, lawyers say. (General Interest).(Brief Article)

The financial fall of Enron Corp. and resulting legal scandal hasn't changed how oil and gas company corporate attorneys operate, but it does emphasize the fundamental basics "of what we've been doing all along," said a panel of six energy attorneys last week in Houston.

Daily interaction between an energy company's legal department and its business operations "is where compliance [with federal and state regulations] starts," said Neal S. Sutton, senior vice-president of administration, general counsel, and secretary of Smith International Inc., Houston, at the meeting hosted by Texas Lawyer, a business publication.

Frederick 1. Plaeger II, vice-president …