Does Arthur Andersen Need a Law License?

Officials at Arthur Andersen LLP are scratching their heads over an Orange County Superior Court judge’s order asking the district attorney to investigate the possibility that the accounting giant is practicing law without a license.

It seems Judge John Woolley was piqued when a partner in Andersen’s San Diego office filed a request with his court for approval of a $28,000 bill for tax work in a case involving bankrupt Teachers Management & Investment Inc.

The request was filed with the clerk’s office by Andersen partner Wesley E. Barrow without going through a licensed attorney. “We’re not certain what his principal concern is,” said Dick Palladian, managing partner for Arthur Andersen’s Southern California offices. “We have filed hundreds of these fee applications without using an attorney. Typically, we’ve been hired by the trustee [overseeing the bankruptcy], and he’s an attorney.”

Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace Wade said his office has received the judge’s order but has not decided what to do about it. Judge Woolley declined to comment.

But several lawyers involved in the case--who asked not to be identified lest they invoke the judge’s ire--suggested that Woolley might have ordered the probe because of a misunderstanding.

Local rules--court processes that govern how various things including the filing of important papers get done--dictate that corporations use lawyers to make their filings. But Andersen is a partnership, not a corporation, and local rules--in Orange County and San Diego County--apparently don’t require partnerships to use attorneys.