DURHAM, N.C. — Thirty-eight of the 47 members of the 2005-06 Duke men’s lacrosse team are expected to sue the university and other parties Thursday, the media representative for their attorney confirmed Wednesday.

The 100-page lawsuit — the third civil suit in as many months against Duke — will be filed by Washington attorney Charles Cooper.

A press conference will be held at 1 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington with the players and their families, said spokesperson Bob Bork.

He added that a Web site, www.dukelawsuit.com, has been established to provide updates. It will also host the complaint and video from the conference.

Cooper, partner at Cooper and Kirk and a former U.S. assistant attorney general, told Legal Times in an article published last week that he planned to file suit by the end of February.

“We will seek recovery for the treatment — the really shameful treatment — that the players received throughout the ordeal,” Cooper said, referring to the will-be plaintiffs’ experience after bogus allegations of rape were made against members of their team in March 2006.

The University added former U.S. deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick to its legal team Feb. 6 to help its defense in ongoing litigations. Gorelick is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, another Washington firm.

Duke is already embroiled in a civil suit filed by an attorney for three other unindicted players. The suit, which alleged the university and others directed a wide conspiracy against the players, was filed in December by Durham attorney Bob Ekstrand.

Former men’s lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler filed charges against Duke in January, claiming that the University had violated terms of a confidential financial settlement made after he was forced to resign during the initial fallout from the allegations. He later withdrew those charges and refiled, alleging slander.

Wrongly-indicted former players Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans, Trinity ‘06, settled with the University for an undisclosed amount in June.

Both Gorelick and John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, declined to comment further.