FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       98-51

         Harvey Goldschmid Named New SEC General Counsel

     Washington, DC, May 14, 1998 -- Securities and Exchange
Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt today announced the selection
of Harvey J. Goldschmid as the Commission's General Counsel.  Mr.
Goldschmid expects to join the Commission in early July 1998.

     Arthur Levitt said, "Harvey will be a superb General
Counsel.  The breadth and depth of his legal knowledge and
scholarship will be a tremendous asset to the Commission.  Over
the years Harvey has shared his great wisdom and insight with the
Commission on a variety of critical issues."  Levitt added, "On
behalf of the Commission I thank Colleen Mahoney, formerly the
Commission's Deputy Enforcement Director, for serving as Acting
General Counsel until Harvey joins us."

     "This is a pivotal and dynamic time in the financial
markets," said Harvey Goldschmid.  "I am excited by the
challenges and the opportunity to make a contribution.  The SEC
is a great agency.  I look forward with delight to working with
Chairman Levitt, the Commission and the SEC staff."

     As General Counsel, Mr. Goldschmid will be the chief legal
officer of the Commission.  His responsibilities will include
representing the Commission on all actions pending in appellate
courts, advising the Commissioners on all enforcement and
rulemaking matters, supervising the Commission's responsibilities
under the bankruptcy code, assisting the Commission with
adjudicatory responsibilities when it sits as an appellate
tribunal, representing the Commission in actions arising out of
enforcement investigations and other actions when the Commission
is a defendant, and counseling the Commissioners and staff on
ethics issues.

     Since 1984, Mr. Goldschmid has been the Dwight Professor of
Law at Columbia University School of Law.  From 1970 to 1984 he
served as Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor
of Law at Columbia University School of Law.  Between 1966 and
1970 he was an Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York
City, and from 1965 to 1966 was a law clerk to Judge Paul R. Hays
of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  And, since 1995 he has
served as Of Counsel at Arnold & Porter.

     Mr. Goldschmid is the author of numerous legal and scholarly
books and publications, a frequent lecturer at international
legal seminars, and has received several teaching awards,
including Columbia Law School's Willis L.M. Reese Award for
Excellence in Teaching in 1996 and 1997.
                                
     Mr. Goldschmid received his J.D., magna cum laude, from
Columbia University School of Law, and his B.A., magna cum laude,
from Columbia College.  He was a Phi Beta Kappa at Columbia
College.
                             #  #  #
See attached biography
                      Harvey J. Goldschmid
                            Biography
                                
                                
     Harvey J. Goldschmid is Dwight Professor of Law at the
Columbia University School of Law and Of Counsel to Arnold &
Porter.  Professor Goldschmid served as a Reporter for the
American Law Institute's Corporate Governance Project, and is now
Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee (i.e. Board of
Directors) of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York,
where he previously served as Chair of the Executive Committee
and Chair of the Committee on Securities Regulation.  He also has
served as Chair of the Section on Antitrust and Economic
Regulation of the Association of American Law Schools and as
Founding Director of Columbia University's Center for Law and
Economic Studies.  He is presently a consultant to both the
Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange
Commission, and a member of the Legal Advisory Committee (and
Chair of its Subcommittee on Corporate Governance) of the New
York Stock Exchange.

     Professor Goldschmid received a law degree from Columbia
University in 1965, where he was Articles Editor of the Columbia
Law Review.  His publications include Cases and Materials on
Trade Regulation (4th ed. 1997) (with Handler, Pitofsky, and
Wood);  The Impact of the Modern Corporation (with Bock,
Millstein, and Scherer, 1984);  Business Disclosure: Government's
Need to Know (1979);  Industrial Concentration: The New Learning
(with Mann and Weston, 1974);  and many articles on corporate,
securities and antitrust law.