This article about the demeanor and methods of U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake , who presided over the trial of Enron executives Ken Lay and Tom Skilling, includes comments by Peter Henning of the WSU Law School . Lake was praised by most legal experts for the way he ran the lengthy and complicated trial. But his defense team will be looking for improprieties in the trial as grounds for an appeal of the convictions. " Judge Lake 's abilities and intelligence will drop sharply in the eyes of the defense, at least in their appellate briefs," Henning said. He added that Lake "seems to have done a good job of keeping the trial moving, which is probably his most important job."