ABA President Questions the Tactics of Starr

The president of the American Bar Assn. on Thursday questioned tactics being used by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr in his investigation of an alleged presidential affair and cover-up.

“Our ethical codes call for careful observance of the attorney-client privilege. There is reason to believe that that privilege is being whittled away,” ABA President Jerome Shestack said during a symposium on the independent counsel law at Georgetown Law School.

Shestack did not mention Starr by name but said: “If polls and press are indicative, it seems that the public is questioning the impartiality and motivation of the independent counsel.

“What should be done if we encounter a public loss of confidence in the counsel whose very work was to instill public confidence?”

Shestack said ethical rules also bar prosecutors from discussing immunity or plea-bargains with someone whose attorney is not present. “That too seems to be whittled away,” he added.

Starr’s investigators wired Linda Tripp to tape her conversations with Monica S. Lewinsky about whether Lewinsky engaged in an affair with President Clinton. They later questioned Lewinsky without her attorney present and discussed the possibility of an immunity deal.

During the symposium, former federal prosecutor Joseph E. diGenova argued the independent counsel law should be scrapped.

“A growing list of very good Americans have been abused and brutalized by this process,” he said.

Benjamin R. Civiletti, who was attorney general under President Carter, said one problem with the law is that the beginning of an investigation is public knowledge and leads to a “hothouse” of accusations.