BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND JAY WEAVER

 While most of the 13 attorneys in the Elian Gonzalez custody case are working pro bono, two rival fund-raising campaigns pitting high-profile local contributors against a national church group have raised about $250,000 to fuel the legal battle.

 Only one of the attorneys -- Gregory Craig, a high-powered Washington, D.C., lawyer who represents Elian's father -- is not working pro bono. He is said to be charging fees below his regular rate -- normally in the $500-an-hour range.

 The dozen lawyers who represent Elian's Miami relatives are working pro bono, but their legal expenses are covered through a trust fund whose contributions exceed $200,000.

 Who is paying for the legal teams and how has been a question of interest since the Miami family contacted the first attorney two days after Elian was plucked from the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Lauderdale Nov. 25.

 Spencer Eig, a Miami Beach immigration lawyer, was recruited by Armando Gutierrez, the Miami family spokesman and media advisor.

 Gutierrez knew Eig from Eig's unsuccessful bid in 1997 for the Miami Beach City Commission. Gutierrez, a well-known local political consultant, was a supporter but did not run Eig's campaign.

 Eig began representing Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez when the Miami relatives realized that the boy's father in Cuba, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, sought the return of his son.

 As the Elian case became complicated, the number of lawyers increased.

 Besides Eig, the other attorneys in the Miami team are: Linda Osberg-Braun, Roger Bernstein, Kendall Coffey, Manuel Diaz, Barbara Lagoa, Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, Laura Fabar, Eduardo Rasco, Judd Goldberg, Eliot Pedrosa and Richard Sharpstein.

 TEAM BUILDING

 Eig, a former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service lawyer, enlisted Bernstein and Osberg-Braun -- two legal INS veterans.

 But it was Gutierrez who helped assemble some of the other legal players.

 ``I was trying to put together a legal dream team to defend Elian,'' Gutierrez said, adding that he gets no salary and pays his own expenses.

 Gutierrez approached Garcia-Pedrosa, former city manager in Miami and Miami Beach, who is a partner in the downtown law firm Ruden, McClosky.

 At first, Garcia-Pedrosa said he did not want to get involved because he thought his services were not needed.

 ``But Armando said, `You have to do it,'  '' Garcia-Pedrosa recalled. ``When Armando wants you, it's hard to say no.''

 Garcia-Pedrosa then recruited other attorneys -- Rasco among them -- for the family court battle.

 After the INS refused to consider Elian's asylum application because the boy's father wanted it withdrawn, the great-uncle sued the INS.

 For that showdown, Gutierrez drafted Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami.

 After the team's loss in federal court, Coffey's partner -- Diaz -- joined the group. He is a prominent lawyer in the Cuban-American Bar Association. Coffey and Diaz were in Gonzalez's house when armed federal agents seized Elian on April 22.

 CONNECTED FIRM

 Craig, the attorney representing Elian's father, works in the Washington firm of Williams & Connolly and helped coordinate President Clinton's defense during last year's impeachment proceedings. White House officials say Craig has not had contact with President Clinton on the Elian case.

 Craig is charging fees, but the people who helped retain him said he agreed to lower them to an unspecified amount.

 Precisely how much Craig normally charges is unclear. Gutierrez, the Miami family spokesman, claims Craig charges $850 an hour. But an article in The New York Times that profiled Craig April 4 said his firm's customary fees ranged between $400 and $500 an hour. Craig's office did not return calls Monday and Tuesday.

 The lawyers representing the Miami family normally charge fees ranging from $200 to $350 an hour, Coffey said.

 For some of the attorneys in Miami, involvement in the Elian case has meant a ``considerable hardship'' in loss of regular income, Coffey said.

 Coffey added that while he devotes time to the Elian case, some of the other lawyers in his 11-lawyer firm pick up cases he can't handle.

 The Executive Committee of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society created a fund in March to obtain donations to pay Craig. The Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, the board's general secretary, subsequently asked the National Council of Churches to assist in administering the fund. United Methodist Church officials halted the fund-raising drive, which raised about $46,000, in response to complaints from leaders in the church's Miami District.

 Fassett has said he and Joan Brown Campbell, former general secretary of the council, hired Craig at the suggestion of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

 The council has been involved in helping to reunify Elian with his father since last year.

 DONATIONS HELPED

 Money to pay for the Miami team's legal expenses comes from the Elian Gonzalez Defense Trust Fund that has taken in more than $200,000 since March, Gutierrez said.

 People who have contributed to the Miami fund include Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas who gave $1,000 out of his reelection campaign chest and South Florida sugar industry tycoons Alfy and Pepe Fanjul, who chipped in $10,000. Spanish-language radio fund-raisers have spurred contributions from ordinary citizens, primarily Cuban Americans.

 Set up at Ocean Bank, where Lazaro Gonzalez's daughter Marisleysis works in the loan processing department, the fund is overseen by three trustees and a legal advisor -- Stan Levin of the Coral Gables law firm Levin & Andress. Levin said between $10,000 and $15,000 has been disbursed.

 Coffey, one of the Miami attorneys, said the money has been used largely for copying and typing of documents, filing fees and some travel.

 Coffey said he could not predict how much the case will end up costing.

 Dulce Cuetara, one of the Miami fund trustees, said the fund is authorized to pay attorneys' fees of up to $70 an hour for court work and $50 an hour for out-of-court work. The amounts reflect established federal court system guidelines for hiring private attorneys, Cuetara said.

 None of the Miami attorneys has billed any fees, she added.

 Contributors are told to check with tax attorneys or accountants on whether donations are tax-deductible, Levin said.

 Contributions to the NCC's Gonzalez Fund are not tax-deductible, Fouke said.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald