COURTING THE PUBLIC; LEWINSKY'S LAWYER TURNS POP ICON.

Byline: Peter Hartlaub Daily News Staff Writer

It has been less than two months since Los Angeles attorney William Ginsburg started representing Monica Lewinsky, but already he is well on his way to the pop-culture Hall of Fame.

Like Frank Sinatra and Elizabeth Taylor before him, the gossip columnists notice when he isn't frequenting swank places around town.

``After two days without a sighting of him, we're in withdrawal. Could it be our favorite California lawyer has gone underground?'' a Washington Post gossip column wondered recently, before asking readers for help in locating Ginsburg.

When a group of journalists caught up with him Friday as he was leaving Washington for California, Ginsburg yelled at photographers and cameramen at Dulles International Airport to get away as his client watched from the back seat of a limousine with a slight smile on her face.

``I want some space! . . . I'm telling you get back now; I want some privacy!'' Ginsburg said, peppering his remarks with expletives.

A few months ago, the Sherman Oaks resident was just another Southland attorney, with a solid reputation for defending doctors in medical malpractice trials. Now he's referred to as ``the ubiquitous William Ginsburg,'' agreeing to a parade of interviews while hanging out off the air with the nation's top TV journalists.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson chastised Ginsburg during a closed-door hearing in her office Thursday, complaining that his statements to the press were not helping his client's case or the government.

His biggest cameo yet came Tuesday, at Time magazine's 75th anniversary gala - a black-tie affair filled with an eclectic mix of public personalities from John Glenn to Julia Child and Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

When Ginsburg first came to Lewinsky's aid, lawyers praised his ability to fit in with the Capitol Hill power players. Now some feel he may be fitting in a little too well - possibly at the expense of his client.

Alan Isaacman, the Los Angeles lawyer who won instant fame 10 years ago when he defended Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in a U.S. Supreme Court case, said he understands media pressure but doesn't agree with Ginsburg's tactics.

``I don't think that his client benefits by the great exposure that he is bringing to (her),'' said Isaacman, who was featured in the 1996 movie ``The People vs. Larry Flynt.'' ``Almost every time you look at a talk show, he's there talking about the case.''

Where's William?

Tracking Ginsburg has been much like a real-life game of ``Where's Waldo?'' for big-city gossip columnists, who look for his trademark bow tie instead of a red-striped sweater and cap.

Sources for The Washington Post spotted him at a deli with CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer on Feb. 21. A day later, he was sighted at a college basketball game, sitting between Blitzer and CNN bureau chief Frank Sesno.

New York Post columnists have tracked him like FBI agents going after a cross-country fugitive, reporting as he surfaced and resurfaced in a variety of locations, accompanied by a Mount Rushmore of TV journalism all-stars:

Barbara Walters (at the Cosmos Club, a bar in Washington).

Larry King (having breakfast at Nate N' Al's restaurant in Beverly Hills).

Mike Wallace (having lunch with the ``60 Minutes'' veteran at Four Seasons in New York).

Annie Groer and Ann Gerhart, co-writers of The Washington Post's ``The Reliable Source,'' have made Ginsburg's omnipresence a running joke.

``If you see him rummaging through the necktie bin at Filene's or in the hot dog line at MCI Center or anywhere at all, please e-mail us immediately,'' they wrote in their Feb. 26 column.

Since a few days after the story broke, there have been cameramen roaming in front of Ginsburg's Sherman Oaks home and his Los Angeles office. Fresh videotape of him walking to his car often makes the evening news.

Ginsburg hasn't shunned the publicity, but he pledges to try when the case is done.

``I'm going back to my law practice as soon as I can,'' he said during an interview in front of several cameras last month.

In Lewinsky's defense

In the meantime, Ginsburg downplays his new-found celebrity as part of the legal game.

``Why are we talking?'' are the first four words of a meandering personal commentary he co-wrote for Time magazine's Feb. 16 issue. Before long, he accuses Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office of leaking information from sealed documents and reneging on an immunity deal.

``My whole media campaign and my decision to do this article have all been designed to demonstrate that my client is a responsible young woman who speaks the truth but got caught in the web of a complicated government conflict,'' he wrote. ``No one is funding her. No one is standing behind her. No one cares about her except us. And we have to tell the story.''

Ginsburg's words have been closely scrutinized, but so far no one has lodged a complaint.

The first rule of trial publicity in the State Bar of California's rules of professional conduct tells attorneys not to make statements outside court that might prejudice the case.

The Time magazine commentary, where Ginsburg accuses Starr of ``break(ing) the law to enforce the law,'' might seem to violate that code. But the State Bar also says an attorney can ``protect a client'' when facing ``recent publicity not initiated by the member or the member's client.''

The trial publicity section became part of the State Bar rules after the O.J. Simpson criminal case, said Erwin Chemerinsky, a University of Southern California law professor.

Chemerinsky said lawyers can be censured, suspended or disbarred for violating State Bar trial publicity rules. But he said that from what he has heard, Ginsburg hasn't broken any rules.

``I think it's very unlikely, no, impossible that anything Ginsburg might say would violate these rules,'' Chemerinsky said. ``Obviously what Ginsburg thinks he's doing is protecting his client.''

`Center of the storm'

Isaacman thinks Ginsburg is an articulate lawyer who ``really seems to care about his client.'' But even as an ardent defender of the First Amendment, Isaacman cautions Ginsburg to avoid the seduction of celebrity.

``If you put it all out in the media, you tend to take the sting out of what you are going to say in the courtroom,'' he said.

For his part, Ginsburg makes no apologies, asserting that he and Lewinsky were both ambushed by their sudden fame.

``She's completely flabbergasted to find herself at the center of the storm,'' Ginsburg wrote in the Time commentary. ``I'll be honest. I never imagined it either. I thought this was about Paula Jones vs. William Jefferson Clinton.''

-- The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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PHOTO (Color) The sudden celebrity of Sherman Oaks resident William Ginsburg, the attorney for ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, has some critics questioning whether it comes at the expense of his client.

Chuck Kennedy/Knight Ridder/Tribune Photo Service