Bad Day at Jones Day

) AMONG THOSE WHO HELPED CHARLES KEATING BRING about the 1989 collapse of Lincoln Savings and Loan, lawyers in the Cleveland firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue were pivotal. Without admitting actual guilt, the gigantic firm has agreed to pay a record $51 million to the Resolution Trust Corporation, the federal body managing the assets of failed S&Ls. According to the RTC, Jones Day attorneys -- hired by Keating in 1986 -- were well aware that Keating was practicing financial and legal legerdemain to conceal Lincoln's serious problems. Yet Jones Day raised no alarm. The resulting failure cost taxpayers at least $2.5 billion and led to a prison term for Keating. Jones Day contends that Lincoln's demise was not caused by any advice it gave Keating.