FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  98-65
                              
  Chairman Arthur Levitt Praises ABA Pay-to-Play Task Force
                           Report

     Washington, DC, July 21, 1998 -- Securities and
Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt today praised the
American Bar Association Task Force on Lawyers' Political
Contributions for the recommendations made in its report
released today.

     Chairman Levitt said, "Task Force Chair Jack Martin and
his colleagues have bravely proposed measures to reform
practices that some members of the bar have bitterly
resisted even discussing.  The steps unanimously supported
by the Task Force firmly advance the bar on the road to a
comprehensive end to pay-to-play.  The additional step
recommended by the majority provides a strong tool for truly
effective action.  The question now is, `How determined are
lawyers to bring this unseemly practice to an end?'  We now
look to the ABA House of Delegates to answer this at its
meeting in August."

     At last year's annual meeting, the ABA House of
Delegates condemned pay-to-play and called upon ABA
President Jerome Shestack to create a task force.  In
addition to John W. Martin, the General Counsel of Ford
Motor Company, the Task Force includes former FBI and CIA
Director Judge William H. Webster, former U.S. Senator
Howard H. Baker, and nine other prominent members of the
bar.

The Task Force proposes a two-part resolution to the House
of Delegates.  The first part calls for:

*    All bar associations to unequivocally condemn lawyer
selection based, in whole     or part, on campaign
contributions;

*    Bar associations to adopt rules requiring disclosure of
lawyer contributions     to government officials who
influence the award of legal work;

*    Merit selection of lawyers for government agencies to
assure no influence by   campaign contributions; and

*    A Model Rule declaring a lawyer or law firm shall not
make a political    contribution or solicitation to obtain
or be considered for legal work.


     The second part calls for adoption of a proscriptive
rule preventing a lawyer from accepting legal work after
making or soliciting campaign contributions, for the purpose
of being retained or considered for retention by a public
agency, to a public official involved in lawyer selection
and calls upon the Standing Committee on Ethics and
Professional Responsibility to take appropriate action.

     The Task Force unanimously supports the first part and
a majority supports the second part.  The ABA will consider
the Task Force's recommendations at its annual meeting in
Toronto in early August, along with a weaker competing
proposal offered by the Section on State and Local
Government Law.

     Chairman Levitt said, "I believe that tougher measures
are warranted in states with significant municipal bond
activity.  The report observes that states with `special
concerns' about areas such as municipal finance `are free to
adopt more restrictive approaches tailored to those special
concerns.'  This should encourage the New York
Administrative Board to move forward and stop this practice
by bond lawyers in New York State."

     The Administrative Board of the Courts of New York is
currently considering a proposed rule to limit pay-to-play
by bond lawyers similar to the nationwide rule applicable to
municipal investment bankers put in place more than four
years ago.

                           #  #  #