TheQueen
06-21-2010, 05:22 PM
Gloria Allred with Veronia Siwik-Daniels. More Photos »
By LAURIE WINER
Published: June 18, 2010
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/06/20/fashion/20allredspan-1/20allredspan-1-popup.jpgHER CAUSE “Some women fought very hard to get us our rights,” said Gloria Allred, here in her office holding a book about the British suffrage movement
On a May morning in Los Angeles, a beautiful, somber brunette sat to the left of the lawyer who would present her case to a room full of about 75 reporters, photographers and camera people. “We are here today because another alleged victim of Roman Polanski’s sexual predatory conduct has come forward,” the lawyer explained, her face set in a familiar, concerned frown as the cameras whirred. “Charlotte Lewis, of London, England, who appeared in Roman Polanski’s film ‘Pirates,’ alleges that she was victimized by Mr. Polanksi when she was 16 years old.”
For the lawyer, Gloria Allred, if not for her client, this was not an unusual morning. Over the past three decades, Ms. Allred’s face has appeared with remarkable regularity as — depending on one’s perspective — a feminist avenging crusader or a deluxe ambulance chaser catching a ride on the latest tabloid scandal. “Other victims should come forward to talk to law enforcement or to talk to me,” urged Ms. Allred, who was sitting atop a yellow-pages directory to make her 5-foot-2 frame more visible.
It is in this large white room with its clear view of the Hollywood sign that you may have seen Ms. Allred sitting next to one of Tiger Woods’s alleged mistresses, Veronica Siwik-Daniels, just as in earlier days she had famously sat alongside Amber Frey, the former girlfriend of the convicted murderer Scott Peterson; the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman; the aggrieved ex-girlfriends of Charlie Sheen, Shaquille O’Neal and Dodi Fayed; an aspiring singer named January Gessert, attempting to make it clear that she played no part in the breakup of Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush; Mr. Woods’s kindergarten teacher, Maureen Decker, repudiating an often-repeated tale that Mr. Woods was the victim of racial epithets as a young child; and a host of women whose faces loop through TMZ.com, Us Weekly and People.
A quick trip through YouTube will also yield a Technicolor parade of other cases with which Ms. Allred has associated herself, including, most recently, that of Debrahlee Lorenzana — the nicely endowed woman with a penchant for fitted suits whose appearance seemed to upset her bosses at Citibank.
As cameras clicked and reporters scribbled in their notes, Ms. Lewis, with Ms. Allred looking on supportively, said she had come forward, nearly three decades after the alleged offense, to “make sure justice is finally done and that Mr. Polanski gets what he deserves.”
Mr. Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland, waiting to see if he will be extradited to the United States over a 1977 sex-crimes case in which he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl; he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor but fled the country before final sentencing.
Ms. Lewis would later describe Ms. Allred as “a terrier,” explaining that she hoped to affect a judge’s ultimate sentencing of Mr. Polanski in that 1977 case with her own story of what she said happened to her in 1982. She decided to hire her after reading her 2006 book, “Fight Back and Win.”
“I needed a strong advocate,” Ms. Lewis said. “I felt I needed an American attorney, and I wanted a female. I felt completely protected and safe with her sitting by my side.”
CONTINUE READING (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/fashion/20ALLRED.html?ref=fashion)
By LAURIE WINER
Published: June 18, 2010
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/06/20/fashion/20allredspan-1/20allredspan-1-popup.jpgHER CAUSE “Some women fought very hard to get us our rights,” said Gloria Allred, here in her office holding a book about the British suffrage movement
On a May morning in Los Angeles, a beautiful, somber brunette sat to the left of the lawyer who would present her case to a room full of about 75 reporters, photographers and camera people. “We are here today because another alleged victim of Roman Polanski’s sexual predatory conduct has come forward,” the lawyer explained, her face set in a familiar, concerned frown as the cameras whirred. “Charlotte Lewis, of London, England, who appeared in Roman Polanski’s film ‘Pirates,’ alleges that she was victimized by Mr. Polanksi when she was 16 years old.”
For the lawyer, Gloria Allred, if not for her client, this was not an unusual morning. Over the past three decades, Ms. Allred’s face has appeared with remarkable regularity as — depending on one’s perspective — a feminist avenging crusader or a deluxe ambulance chaser catching a ride on the latest tabloid scandal. “Other victims should come forward to talk to law enforcement or to talk to me,” urged Ms. Allred, who was sitting atop a yellow-pages directory to make her 5-foot-2 frame more visible.
It is in this large white room with its clear view of the Hollywood sign that you may have seen Ms. Allred sitting next to one of Tiger Woods’s alleged mistresses, Veronica Siwik-Daniels, just as in earlier days she had famously sat alongside Amber Frey, the former girlfriend of the convicted murderer Scott Peterson; the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman; the aggrieved ex-girlfriends of Charlie Sheen, Shaquille O’Neal and Dodi Fayed; an aspiring singer named January Gessert, attempting to make it clear that she played no part in the breakup of Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush; Mr. Woods’s kindergarten teacher, Maureen Decker, repudiating an often-repeated tale that Mr. Woods was the victim of racial epithets as a young child; and a host of women whose faces loop through TMZ.com, Us Weekly and People.
A quick trip through YouTube will also yield a Technicolor parade of other cases with which Ms. Allred has associated herself, including, most recently, that of Debrahlee Lorenzana — the nicely endowed woman with a penchant for fitted suits whose appearance seemed to upset her bosses at Citibank.
As cameras clicked and reporters scribbled in their notes, Ms. Lewis, with Ms. Allred looking on supportively, said she had come forward, nearly three decades after the alleged offense, to “make sure justice is finally done and that Mr. Polanski gets what he deserves.”
Mr. Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland, waiting to see if he will be extradited to the United States over a 1977 sex-crimes case in which he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl; he pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a minor but fled the country before final sentencing.
Ms. Lewis would later describe Ms. Allred as “a terrier,” explaining that she hoped to affect a judge’s ultimate sentencing of Mr. Polanski in that 1977 case with her own story of what she said happened to her in 1982. She decided to hire her after reading her 2006 book, “Fight Back and Win.”
“I needed a strong advocate,” Ms. Lewis said. “I felt I needed an American attorney, and I wanted a female. I felt completely protected and safe with her sitting by my side.”
CONTINUE READING (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/fashion/20ALLRED.html?ref=fashion)