  The lepton flavor violation processes $J/\psi \to \mu\tau$ and $e\tau$ are
searched for using a sample of 5.8$\times 10^7$ $J/\psi$ events collected with
the BESII detector. Zero and one candidate events, consistent with the
estimated background, are observed in $J/\psi \to \mu\tau, \tau\to
e\bar\nu_e\nu_{\tau}$ and $J/\psi\to e\tau, \tau\to\mu\bar\nu_{\mu}\nu_{\tau}$
decays, respectively. Upper limits on the branching ratios are determined to be
$Br(J/\psi\to\mu\tau)<2.0 \times 10^{-6}$ and $Br(J/\psi \to e\tau) < 8.3
\times10^{-6}$ at the 90% confidence level (C.L.).
