  For excited nucleon states $N^*$ of arbitrary spin coupling to nucleon (N)
and meson (M), we propose a Lorentz covariant orbital-spin (L-S) scheme for the
effective $N^*NM$ couplings. To be used for the partial wave analysis of
various $N^*$ production and decay processes, it combines merits of two
conventional schemes, {\sl i.e.}, covariant effective Lagrangian approach and
multipole analysis with amplitudes expanded according to angular momentum L. As
examples, explicit formulae are given for $N^*\to N\pi$, $N^*\to N\omega$ and
$\psi\to N^*\bar N$ processes which are under current experimental studies.
