LEVITT, LEADING LAWYERS CALL FOR END TO PAY-TO-PLAY

Securities and
Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt today announced
that more than one hundred leading lawyers from twenty-three
states and the District of Columbia have joined Judge
William Webster, former Attorney General Elliot Richardson
and Chancellor William Allen in calling on the legal
profession to sever the link between political contributions
and municipal bond work.  This practice is commonly called
“pay-to-play.”

     Deans of forty-seven American law schools, including
Columbia, Harvard and Yale, have also called for an end to
the practice, many of them organized by the noted securities
law scholar and Dean of the University of Arizona College of
Law, Joel Seligman.

     Chairman Levitt said: “Throughout our history, leaders
have emerged from America’s legal community to mobilize
lawyers for needed reform.  I am encouraged that so many of
our country’s distinguished law school deans, leading
lawyers, and devoted public servants have followed this
tradition and called for an end to pay-to-play.  This odious
practice has tainted our municipal bond market as well as
the reputation of many good lawyers.  Next week, I will ask
the American Bar Association to join this effort and bring
an end to pay-to-play.”

     Dean Seligman said: “It is in the best tradition of the
legal community for the American Bar Association and bar
groups across the country to move quickly to eliminate pay-
to-play.”

     Judge Webster said, in connection with the
announcement: “Pay-to-play brings discredit upon the legal
profession.  The American Bar Association and state bar
associations and disciplinary bodies can and should take
steps to bring this practice to an end.  We hope they will
respond to our call.”

     At its annual meeting in San Francisco August 5 and 6,
the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates is
scheduled to vote on a resolution calling for measures to
end pay-to-play.

Contact at the SEC: Chris Ullman (202) 942-0020
Contact at Lawyers Organized to End Pay to Play: Stephen
Friedman (212) 909-6172