ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040046
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Lawyers who challenged The Citadel's all-male admissions asked a federal judge Friday to give them just over $5.8 million to cover their fees and costs from the four-year court battle.
If approved by U.S. District Judge Weston Houck, the figure would bring the total cost to just over $10 million. The Citadel spent about $3 million in private money and the state about $1.2 million unsuccessfully trying to keep out women.
The Citadel agreed to admit women two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the all-male admissions policy at Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional. There are now four women Citadel cadets.
Citadel spokesman Terry Leedom said he did not know if the state military school would challenge the fee request.
The school says it admitted women voluntarily and Houck's ruling is not needed. Citadel officials have said his ruling could make the school more vulnerable to paying the women's legal bills.
The fee application filed Friday includes a 35-page legal memorandum as well as sworn statements several inches thick detailing costs.
``After four years, 49 major briefs, over 200 depositions and 47 days of court hearings the state has lost, the right of women to equal protection of the laws is vindicated and female cadets have enrolled at The Citadel this year. Now the bill for legal services is due,'' the memorandum says.
The plaintiffs prevailed and are entitled to costs and fees in the suit brought by Shannon Faulkner and later assumed by Nancy Mellette, the document says.
Just over $5 million of the total is for attorney fees. The New York City firm of Shearman & Sterling seeks almost $3.4 million of that.
The firm devoted 17,458 hours to the case, ranging from $450 per hour for partner Henry Weisburg to $75 per hour for a legal assistant, according to documents. Some of the other costs include $564.54 for in-house meals, $108,712 for office copying and $119,067 for travel.
Attorney Val Vojdik wants $610,875 to cover her two years of work on the case since she left Shearman & Sterling to teach at New York University Law School.
Vojdik said she spent $20,000 of her own money on the case. She agreed with Faulkner and Mellette that she would be paid only if fees were awarded. She seeks $375 per hour.
Charleston attorney Bob Black asks for $646,530 at a rate of $200 per hour. That includes 117 hours for dealing with the media. Greenville attorney Suzanne Coe, who originally represented Faulkner, seeks $56,093.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which also had attorneys on the case, wants $325,617.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB