By Heather Haddon and Ted Mann

Two appointees of Gov. Chris Christie's who recently resigned amid a controversy over lane closures at the George Washington Bridge have retained private attorneys, according to correspondence from their attorneys reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Bill Baroni and David Wildstein, both former executives at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, have sought outside counsel amid an investigation into why traffic lanes leading to the nation's busiest bridge were abruptly closed, the documents showed.

Word of the hirings comes one day before a raft of correspondence and documents related to the bridge controversy -- and any possible connection to the Christie administration -- were due to be delivered to a legislative inquiry of the state Assembly. The Democrat-led Transportation Committee subpoenaed a broad range of documents from people involved in the incident, including Messrs. Baroni and Wildstein and leadership of the authority, seeking more information about how the lanes were closed and why.

Mr. Wilstein recently hired Alan L. Zegas, a criminal lawyer from Chatham, N.J. , to represent him, according to an email sent from Mr. Zegas to the state Legislature Tuesday.