THE decision to overturn Andersen’s obstruction-of-justice conviction will be cold comfort for more than 28,000 former employees of the accountancy firm once blamed for aiding and abetting the record- breaking fraud committed at Enron.

Those former staff would be delighted that William Rehnquist, the US Chief Justice, ruled that they did not knowingly break the law when they destroyed more than five tonnes of Enron documents at their master’s behest.

But that is where the celebrations end. They won’t get their jobs back as there is little chance that the old Andersen will be brought back from the dead after the decision.

Andersen now has fewer than 200 employees, largely engaged in winding up the firm’s affairs. The chance of any kind of compensation for the thousands of partners and ordinary staff who lost their jobs and money when the firm collapsed is equally slim.

However, the ruling has important implications for others who might be put in a similar position as the Andersen employees who were asked to destroy Enron paperwork.

In his ruling, the judge noted that many professional firms had document destruction policies. After a time, usually a few months but in some cases several years, documents are routinely destroyed to make way for more paperwork. Otherwise offices would be buried beneath documents.

Since Andersen’s demise, the destruction of corporate documents — electronic or on paper — had been a risky affair should those documents be needed for future court actions.

But the judge implied that adhering to company guidelines on document destruction did not automatically indicate that an employee intended to obstruct justice or to otherwise break the law.

Whether Frank Quattrone, the former CSFB banker convicted of asking staff to “clean up those files” during an inquiry into “hot IPOs”, can apply that logic remains to be seen. His lawyers are looking into it.

THE FALL OF A GIANT

December 2001: Enron goes bankrupt following mass fraud. SEC inquiry launched.

March 2002: Andersen indicted on federal fraud charges over collapse of Enron. Clients flee. It sells off units and whittles down 85,000-strong workforce.

May 2002: David Duncan, a former partner at Andersen, tells the trial that he encouraged staff to shred documents that were related to Enron.

October 2002: Andersen found guilty of illegally instructing staff to destroy Enron-related documents. The firm was fined $500,000 and given five years’ probation.

May 2005: Andersen now employs a total of 200 people to do administrative and legal work.

THE TWO TOP MEN

JOSEPH BERARDINO

was chief executive of Andersen’s US practice when the Enron scandal broke. He was criticised for failing to act faster to contain the fallout. Handled properly, Andersen could have distanced itself from the actions of a few staff in the Houston office. Mr Berardino resigned in March 2002 and now works at a New York private equity firm.

JOHN ORMEROD

was managing partner of Andersen in the UK. He fought hard to position the Enron affair as an American “problem” but was ultimately caught out by the speed with which events unfolded. Most of Andersen’s UK practice was bought by Deloitte, and Mr Ormerod became senior partner in Deloitte’s London office. He retired in May 2004.

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