During cross examination of former Dewey & LeBoeuf director of budget and planning, defense counsel for the firm's ex-CFO, Joel Sanders, tried to break down the idea that accounting adjustments made at year's end were illegal.

“You know from your education and professional experience that one of the things accountants do is make year-end adjustments, correct?” Andrew Frisch, who runs his own three-lawyer law firm, asked Ilya Alter, the witness. Alter agreed.

Frisch, whose client is on trial with former Dewey & LeBoeuf chairman Steven Davis and ex-executive director Stephen DiCarmine, also asked whether it was normal for accountants to assess audit risk.