FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    2000-10

    SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Praises American Bar Association
                  for Banning Lawyer Pay-to-Play

     Washington, DC, February 14, 2000 -- Securities and Exchange
Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt today praised the American Bar
Association House of Delegates for adopting a rule that would make
it unethical for lawyers to engage in pay-to-play.  Today's debate
and vote culminate three years of effort by the Chairman and the
ABA to ban pay-to-play.

     Chairman Levitt said, "By voting to end pay-to-play, America's
lawyers today demonstrated bold and inspired leadership on a
pressing ethical issue.  This vote reaffirms the belief that
competence, not connections should be the rule when awarding
government contracts.  I now call on the state bar associations to
include this new provision in their respective rules governing
lawyer conduct."

     Chairman Levitt addressed the House of Delegates shortly
before the vote, saying, "I'm not here to preach to the Bar about
integrity.  Your history and your code of ethics make your
commitment to this value quite evident.  But, nothing would send a
clearer, more unequivocal message on the issue of pay-to-play than
your passing a resolution asking lawyers to cut the tie between
campaign contributions and selection as counsel in government
transactions.  The SEC's actions on this issue can do only so much.
At the end of the day, the responsibility for maintaining investor
confidence rests heavily on the shoulders of market participants --
issuers, financial advisers, dealers, and especially lawyers."

     Stamping out pay-to-play has been a priority of the Commission
since 1993.  Key actions include:

ú    In 1993, municipal securities dealers pledged to end pay-to-
  play;
ú    In 1994, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board formally
banned pay-to-play;
ú    In 1997, the ABA strongly condemned pay-to-play and called for
  a study of additional action on ways to end pay-to-play in the
  legal community;
ú    In 1998, the ABA Task Force, including Jack Martin, Senator
Howard Baker, and Judge William Webster, recommended amending ABA
ethics rules to end pay-to-play;
ú    In 1999, independent investment advisers adopted a voluntary
  ban on pay-to-play.

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