WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 -- The following are brief profiles of the seven White House and private lawyers who will serve as President Clinton's defense team in the Senate impeachment trial.
Charles Ruff, 59, has been White House counsel since 1997. Ruff served on the Watergate prosecution team that investigated President Nixon, defended former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in the 'Keating Five' savings and loan investigation, and represented Anita Hill and former White House aide Ira Magaziner.
He served previously in a range of government positions, including corporation counsel for the city of Washington, D.C.; a partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling; U.S. attorney for District of Columbia; acting deputy U.S. attorney general; and associate deputy U.S. attorney general. He has been confined to a wheelchair by a bout with polio.
David Kendall, 54, the president's private attorney, is a longtime personal friend and Yale Law School classmate of both the president and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The father of three is a devout Quaker and former Rhodes Scholar who was arrested repeatedly while participating in the civil rights battles of the 1960s.
He is currently a partner in the law firm of Williams & Connolly, with specialties in libel defense, criminal defense and general civil defense.
He is a former professor at the Georgetown University Law School and the Columbia University Law School, and served as assistant counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Nicole Seligman, 42, Kendall's partner, is a Harvard Law School honors graduate and former editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Seligman helped defend Oliver North on charges of selling arms to Nicaraguan rebels during the Reagan presidency, and defended Hollywood filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavros when he was sued by U.S. diplomats for libel over his controversial film 'Missing.'
She counts Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg among her closest friends.
Gregory Craig has been White House special counsel since 1998. He is a Yale Law School graduate who served previously as a director for policy planning at the State Department; a partner with Williams & Connolly; and a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
He helped defend John Hinckley after he shot President Reagan.
Lanny Breuer has been White House special counsel since 1997. He served previously as a partner with Covington & Burling; an assistant district attorney for Manhattan; and an instructor at The American School in Switzerland.
His legal successes are highlighted by a lawsuit against the Clinton administration involving a gay Marine who violated Pentagon rules.
Bruce Lindsey has served as an assistant to the president and deputy White House counsel since 1994. He is a close personal friend of Clinton from their days together in Arkansas and remains one of the president's most faithful companions.
He practiced law in Little Rock; served David Pryor both as senator and governor; and served as national campaign director for Clinton's 1992 presidential victory.
Cheryl Mills has been deputy White House counsel since 1997. She is a graduate of the Stanford University Law School, and in her private and public legal career has specialized in matters of civil rights and education.
