SIMPSON CASE GETS GAG ORDER : TALKING WITH MEDIA BANNED IN CIVIL TRIAL.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

Lawyers and witnesses in O.J. Simpson's criminal trial seemed to yak as much outside the courtroom as inside. For Simpson's upcoming civil trial, there will be a lot of zipped lips.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki on Tuesday slapped lawyers, witnesses and parties to the case with a gag order. The ruling bars them from talking about ``anything connected with this trial with the media or in public places.''

That means no more attorney interviews like the ones on the courthouse steps that became such a sideshow at last year's criminal trial in downtown Los Angeles.

Fujisaki can impose a gag order on lawyers, but the question being asked Tuesday was, can he shut them up?

Some legal experts say no.

``When these gag orders have been imposed in other cases, they've been almost unenforceable. The best example is, in the World Trade Center bombing case, the judge imposed a gag order, but the press still got statements,'' said USC law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky.

``The judge called in all the possible people who could have those statements, but they all said, `I didn't do it,' '' Chemerinsky said.

Chemerinsky said that the gag order may be unconstitutional because it is too broad.

``Technically, a witness and a friend who are walking through the park and talking about the case are violating the order,'' he said.

While agreeing that the gag order is overly broad, Ventura attorney Michael Case, chairman of a State Bar of California committee dealing with lawyer competence, said that the order might help make the civil trial less of a spectacle.

``In big cases, a lot of things that occur outside the courtroom are a distraction for the jury,'' Case said.

Fujisaki issued the gag order after lawyers for Simpson and the families of the slain Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman met behind closed doors with him for an hour.

There was no indication why, said court spokeswoman Jerrianne Hayslett. Legal observers say that with jury selection just a month away, the judge may be trying to curb publicity.

Simpson was acquitted of the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and Goldman. The victims' families have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in an attempt to hold Simpson responsible.

Also on Tuesday, the judge set back the starting date for the trial from Sept. 9 to Sept. 17, as requested by attorneys for both sides.

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Photo: Ed Medvene, left, and Dan Petrocelli, O.J. Simpson's attorneys leave Superior Court Tuesday after a gag order was imposed.

David Sprague/Daily News