HOW THE LEWINSKY DEAL WAS ARRANGED; CAST OF MANY HELPED FORGE IMMUNITY PACT.

Byline: Don Van Natta Jr. and Jill Abramson The New York Times

Disguised by a blond wig and sunglasses, Monica Lewinsky boarded a flight July 26 in Los Angeles, an anonymous beginning to a 48-hour odyssey that transformed the legal and political dynamics of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's four-year investigation of President Clinton.

The next day in New York, Lewinsky met secretly with the independent counsel's team at an East Side apartment belonging to Starr's mother-in-law. After a five-hour debriefing and a late-night drive to Washington, the former White House intern signed an immunity deal Tuesday that freed her from legal peril. But it also confronted Clinton and his presidency with a morass that he will be forced to face in grand jury testimony at the White House on Aug. 17.

Lewinsky, who turned 25 on July 23, has moved a step closer to a cherished goal. ``For my birthday,'' she had told her family, ``I want my life back.''

In fact, on that birthday morning, Lewinsky was told by her new lawyers, Jacob Stein and Plato Cacheris, that Starr had called, breaking weeks of silence and offering to reopen immunity discussions. That night, her family celebrated at a French restaurant in Brentwood.

The story of Lewinsky's six-month journey from target to cooperating witness was culled from more than a dozen interviews this week with lawyers involved in the investigation, as well as with associates and friends of hers.

A Starr-Lewinsky alliance that seemed unlikely as recently as last month was put together by a cast of lawyers, some of whom have received no public attention. Lewinsky found a trusted mentor in Sydney Hoffman, a 46-year-old lawyer in Cacheris' firm, who was able to establish a bond with Lewinsky and then led a critical round of questioning that bolstered her credibility with Starr's team. Sam Dash, the former Senate Watergate counsel who has advised Starr on ethics issues, also played a pivotal role.

But two of the most important players in this week's legal drama are seasoned criminal defense lawyers - Stein, 73, and Cacheris, 69, who have only represented Lewinsky since June 2. The two Washington insiders, who work in different law firms in the same office building, broke a six-month deadlock of bad blood and broken promises between Starr's prosecutors and Lewinsky's first lawyer, William Ginsburg.

`Queen for a day'

The negotiations opened with an offer from Starr that Lewinsky would be ``queen for a day,'' an ironic term for the legal arts that would allow the ex-intern to tell her complete story to prosecutors - but with a promise that nothing she said could be used against her if, at the end of the interview, Starr remained unsatisfied with the level of her cooperation and declined to grant immunity.

Despite the resulting legal coup this week, Stein and Cacheris are somber, perhaps because, like Dash, they are veterans of the Watergate crisis.

``There was nothing to celebrate,'' Stein said in an interview in his book-lined law office, facing an etching of William Shakespeare. ``None of this called for a party. This is a tragedy.''

January confrontation

On a cold January afternoon, Lewinsky was confronted by a retinue of FBI agents and lawyers working for Starr who questioned her for hours. They threatened to prosecute her for perjury by using her taped confessions to a friend about an affair with Clinton - a relationship she had denied in sworn testimony in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit.

The lawyers and agents told Lewinsky she could avoid prosecution if she agreed to secretly tape-record her conversations with Betty Currie, the president's personal secretary, and with Clinton himself. Lewinsky declined.

Later, to defend his client, Ginsburg submitted a proffer - a statement of expected testimony - for Lewinsky that confirmed a sexual relationship with the president, said lawyers familiar with her account. But the proffer did not say that the president or his allies had encouraged Lewinsky to lie under oath in the Jones case. That account did not satisfy Starr. And while Ginsburg argued in court that Starr had offered Lewinsky immunity, he lost.

Starr-Ginsburg clash

Starr then turned to other matters, spending months in protracted court battles with the White House. All the while, Ginsburg's public characterizations of Starr as someone who may have ``ravaged the life of a youngster'' were received with glee in the White House. And the distrust between Ginsburg and Starr's office grew so deep that all communication ceased.

Lewinsky herself was instrumental in the ultimate decision to dismiss Ginsburg, said lawyers familiar with the decision. He had never been her choice. When her father first suggested him back in January, friends recalled, her reaction was immediate: ``Dad, he's a malpractice lawyer.''

She kept Nathaniel Speights, an experienced criminal defense lawyer and Ginsburg's Washington co-counsel. Lewinsky was also relying on advice from a savvy spokeswoman, Judy Smith, hired with the help of her mother's lawyer, Billy Martin. Martin and Smith, who is also a lawyer, helped guide Lewinsky in the choice of Stein and Cacheris.

Smith began to change the landscape of Lewinsky's insulated world. For Lewinsky, who several friends say is lonely, bored and rarely gets to socialize with people her own age (she feared anyone seen with her would be subpoenaed by Starr), Smith became a new confidante.

It was Marcia Lewis, Lewinsky's mother, who read about Stein in a New Yorker magazine profile and suggested approaching him. Martin, who knew both Stein and Cacheris, concurred. So did Smith.

In late June, Smith asked Cacheris whether his firm had any female lawyers. It did: Hoffman, a former assistant U.S. attorney and the lawyer who became a mentor to Lewinsky.

Stein and Cacheris decided it was time for some diplomacy. They paid a courtesy visit to Starr, whom both men knew through Washington legal circles.

Once inside the office, Stein talked in tough but measured terms with Starr. ``I have one good trial left in me,'' Stein told him, ``and I'm going to put it at Monica's disposal.''

Those words sent a clear message to Starr's prosecutors: Lewinsky was prepared to fight an indictment. And Starr was well aware that Stein had won the only acquittal in a major criminal trial in the Watergate case, representing Kenneth Parkinson, a Nixon lawyer.

Serious negotiation

For Starr, Stein's remark also increased the pressure to work out a deal with Lewinsky. Starr knew that if Lewinsky were indicted, a trial would likely delay his final report for a year or longer.

On July 21, Starr telephoned Stein and suggested a meeting. The next day, Stein and Cacheris met at the Independent Counsel's Office with Starr and Dash. Afterward, Stein and Cacheris sent a proffer letter that outlined what Lewinsky was prepared to say under oath.

It is not known what other evidence Starr has assembled, but Lewinsky could provide testimony that helps prove Clinton lied under oath and tried to obstruct justice. Time was of the essence, and it was to Starr's advantage to have Lewinsky's account first, before he questioned the president.

Clinton's personal lawyer, David Kendall, on Saturday clarified how the president will be questioned by Starr's office at the White House. Kendall said the testimony will be carried on a one-way live feed to the grand jury and recorded on videotape for any jurors who are absent.

New level of trust

As it turned out, the new proffer was not that different from the one Ginsburg prepared, but the climate had changed.

``We trusted each other,'' Cacheris said, ``and trust had been a problem in this case.''

Starr responded with his ``queen for a day'' offer.

``They wanted it sooner rather than later,'' Cacheris said of Lewinsky's account. Stein and Cacheris told Lewinsky that meeting with Starr, given his time pressures, was ``a favorable development.''

The two sides agreed to meet July 27 in New York. Both camps worried that reporters in Washington would find out about the secret meeting if held there.

``She had nothing to lose,'' Cacheris said. ``She could say what she wanted to say, as long as it was the truth.''

There was only one thing left to negotiate before the meeting: The lunch menu. Starr and Stein decided on tuna sandwiches.

Friends of Lewinsky said she was terribly anguished over the prospect of testifying against the president, but an even greater worry weighed on her. She knew that her mother was also vulnerable to prosecution by Starr because she had kept her daughter's stained cocktail dress. Lawyers said Lewinsky told prosecutors that the stain could provide evidence of a a sexual encounter with the president. The dress is being tested for physical evidence at the FBI crime laboratory.

``I think she has come to understand that she was going to assume responsibility for the portion of this that was her fault, and just tell the truth,'' a friend said. ``If the presidency goes down, the president has to take responsibility for that.''

Doing the right thing?

Still, while in Los Angeles last weekend, Lewinsky asked friends, ``Am I doing the right thing?'' They encouraged her to do whatever she believed it would take to put an end to her six-month ordeal.

Lewinsky told Stein and Cacheris that she was ready to talk to Starr.

Although the five-hour meeting July 27 was held in the New York City apartment of Starr's mother-in-law, Starr was not present. But Cacheris and Stein were pleased to see Dash take a leading role in organizing the meeting, as he had in setting up negotiations with Starr.

While Dash raised the comfort levels of Lewinsky's lawyers, Hoffman, the lawyer in Cacheris' office, had grown close to Lewinsky, and she was able to make Lewinsky feel more at ease.

Hoffman started the session by asking Lewinsky a series of questions. After about 30 minutes, Starr's team - Dash, William Bittman and Sol Wisenberg - asked questions of Lewinsky.

``There was no rancor,'' Stein said afterward. ``It was congenial, dignified and, under the circumstances, it was elevated.''

An FBI agent took notes of the interview.

At 3:30 p.m., Cacheris ended the meeting. Lewinsky returned to a friend's apartment. That night, Starr left a message on Stein's answering machine. Lewinsky's performance had been deemed credible by his deputies. There was the basis for a transactional immunity agreement, which is full and blanket protection from prosecution unless prosecutors find that Lewinsky has lied to the grand jury.

The final agreement

On July 28, Cacheris and Stein went to Starr's office to pick up the immunity agreement, which Starr had signed. They brought it back to their offices, where Lewinsky signed it just before 2 p.m., when Stein and Cacheris announced it to the public with a one-sentence statement outside the building.

At that time and in a recent interview, both Stein and Cacheris declined to discuss detailed terms of the agreement or Lewinsky's proffered testimony.

An agreement to grant transactional immunity to Lewinsky's mother was negotiated by her attorney, Billy Martin, with Starr.

Lewinsky now faces the difficult task of attending daily debriefings with Starr's prosecutors, which a friend said have been grueling. But she is preparing for her grand jury testimony, which is likely to occur sometime later this month and could last only a few days. After that, Lewinsky could be called upon to testify in public at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee if it chooses to hold impeachment hearings.

``She has been apprehensive about all of this,'' Stein said. ``She is a bright person and is bright enough to know this is very serious business.''

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Photo

PHOTO Monica Lewinsky

Granted full immunity