Chicago ? Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has engaged a team of prominent lawyers to help President-elect Barack Obama vet her candidacy for secretary of state even as some insiders criticized the pick and advisers to the former first lady said she was weighing whether to take the job if Obama offered it.

Attorneys Cheryl Mills, David Kendall and Robert Barnett are working with the Obama transition team to review information about the Clintons’ background and finances, including Bill Clinton’s post-presidential business deals and relationships with foreign governments. Bruce Lindsey, a longtime Clinton adviser who now heads the former president’s charitable foundation, has taken a leadership role in the process, aides said.

All represented the Clintons on legal matters in the White House, including President Clinton’s dalliance with intern Monica Lewinsky that led to his impeachment in 1998.

Officials knowledgeable about the vetting said it has gone smoothly and that both Clintons were cooperating fully