BANKING AND FINANCE

Trial of Law Firm Used by Keating to Begin: Attorneys representing a federal agency will seek in a civil trial starting today to show that a national law firm committed malpractice and aided and abetted Charles Keating Jr.’s looting of Lincoln Savings. A jury of seven women and five men was chosen Friday in Tucson to hear the suit brought by the Resolution Trust Corp. against Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. It is accused of involvement in illegal activities that led to the most expensive thrift bailout, at a cost of $2.5 billion to taxpayers. Opening statements are scheduled today before U.S. District Judge Richard Bilby, who last year conducted a 4 1/2-month civil trial against Keating and scores of co-defendants, including Jones, Day. That class-action case was brought on behalf of thousands of bondholders who lost their savings when Irvine-based Lincoln collapsed in April, 1989, within a day of its parent company, American Continental Corp., filing for bankruptcy. Jones, Day, which has more than 400 partners worldwide, settled for $24 million in that suit without acknowledging any wrongdoing.