This NY Times article reports on the interesting story of tax shelter lawyer Raymond J. Ruble, a former Manhattan-based partner with Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. Mr. Ruble was well-known at Sidley, Austin for his aggressive work on tax strategies for investors, and was one of the biggest earners for the firm.
However, Mr Ruble is at the center of a government investigation into Sidley, Austin’s promotion of abusive tax shelters. In October, Mr. Ruble was dismissed, a highly unusual move by such a prestigious law firm. Days earlier, government investigators told the firm that millions of dollars from a San Francisco-based seller of tax shelters had gone – apparently unknown to the law firm – into a Delaware trust created by Mr. Ruble.
At least four civil lawsuits name Mr. Ruble and his former employer as defendants. Some of the lawsuits contend that he also worked with Ernst & Young and Deutsche Bank, among others, to promote a variety of abusive tax shelters.
The entire article is interesting reading, and includes the following tidbit on Mr. Ruble’s promotion of tax shelters in a continuing education publication:

In any case, in an article, “The Professional Responsibilities of a Tax Lawyer in the Context of Corporate Tax Shelters,” published by the Practicing Law Institute in its course handbook series for lawyers, Mr. Ruble argued that tax lawyers had a first duty not to the tax system but to their clients.
He began the article by quoting from the Gospel of Matthew: “No man can serve two masters.”