U.S. Told to Pay Lawyer Fees in Probe of Meese

A three-judge appellate court panel has told the government to reimburse Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III for $472,190 of the more than $720,000 in legal expenses he incurred while defending himself against allegations of misconduct as President Reagan’s counselor.

The decision by the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia was made public Friday.

In its order, the panel said the $472,190 was decided as the amount to be reimbursed under provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, which call for the government to pick up legal fees of public officials accused of wrongdoing but who are ultimately cleared.

Time Sent With Reporters

The panel, however, said that Meese could not be reimbursed for the time his attorneys spent in answering questions from reporters during the course of the Meese investigation.

The order said the court had arrived at the reimbursement figure after considering “all relevant factors, including the extent to which the independent counsel’s investigation duplicated investigations of other government agencies and the Congress.”

The order said the judges also had considered “the reasonableness of the time expended by counsel for Edwin Meese III and of the rates charged for that time, the failure of one counsel to keep contemporaneous records of time spent representing Edwin Meese III before the independent counsel, and the non-reimbursability of the time spent dealing with the media in the course of representing Edwin Meese III.”

Meese had been investigated during much of 1983 on allegations that he accepted loans from friends who ultimately got government jobs, that there were irregularities in connection with his promotion to the rank of colonel in the Army Reserve and that he had failed to report certain loans on his financial disclosure forms.

The allegations triggered provisions in the Ethics in Government Act requiring appointment of an independent counsel. That counsel, Jacob A. Stein, concluded last September that Meese had committed no wrongdoing that would warrant bringing any charges against him.

Meese was confirmed by the Senate to be the nation’s 75th attorney general by a 63-31 vote on Feb. 23, roughly 13 months after Reagan had asked that the nomination of his long-time close associate be approved.

Meese was en route to Washington on Friday from Dallas, where he had appeared before the Texas State Bar Assn. He was not immediately available for comment.

Leonard Garment of the firm of Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, which handled the bulk of Meese’s legal representation, said in a terse statement:

‘Thoughtful and Fair’

“The court’s decision is thoughtful and fair and ends the Meese litigation.”

E. Robert Wallach, an independent attorney who also represented Meese, said separately, “I consider the amount full compensation for my legal services.”

The court said that of the $472,190 to be reimbursed to the attorney general, roughly $357,515 represented legal fees for services provided by Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin; $37,805 in expenses incurred by that same law firm, and $76,870 in legal fees for the services of Wallach.