by the mid-1990s, keck, mahin & cate had grown rapidly to have some 350 lawyers and faced financial difficulties. in 1994, it was found guilty of having to conspired to defraud investors in a texas jail construction project and was liable for a share of a $36 million judgment. by early 1996, the firm faced being cut off from a $10 million line of credit from its chief lender, northern trust company.