Gloria Allred

Gloria Allred
Gloria Allred in a parade in 2007
Born	Gloria Rachel Bloom July 3, 1941 (age 69) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	B.A., University of Pennsylvania M.A., New York University J.D., Loyola Law School
Occupation	Attorney
Employer	Allred, Maroko & Goldberg
Children	Lisa Bloom
Website
www.gloriaallred.com

Gloria Rachel Allred,

The Gloria Rachel Allred (née Bloom; born July 3, 1941) is an American lawyer noted for taking high-profile and often controversial cases. She is the mother of former Court TV hostess Lisa Bloom,.

Gloria Allred Early life,

Allred was born in Philadelphia, on July 3, 1941. After high school, she attended the University of Pennsylvania. There she met her first husband and married. The couple had their only child, Lisa, in 1961. Shortly afterward, Allred and her husband divorced.

A newly single mother, Allred moved back in with her parents and continued her studies in school, graduating with honors with a bachelor's degree in English in 1963. She tried her hand at a variety of jobs before she decided to become a teacher. After taking a position at Benjamin Franklin High School, she began working on her master's degree at New York University. While there, she became interested in the civil rights movement, which was beginning to gain momentum. After earning her master's degree in 1966, she became a teacher and moved to the Watts area of Los Angeles, a year after the 1965 Watts Riots.

Allred moved to Los Angeles and married her second husband, William Allred, in 1968. They divorced in 1987. Allred received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1975,.

Gloria Allred's Career,

Gloria Allred has represented "run and dump" parties in various high-profile cases, and frequently comments on television. Gloria Allred represented Amber Frey when Frey was a witness in the criminal case against Scott Peterson. She has also represented cases against the Boy Scouts of America for excluding an eleven year old girl named Katrina Yeaw, something she referred to as gender apartheid, and a case against the former Sav-On Drugstore chain for having both a boys and a girls toy section, as well as representing actress Hunter Tylo when producer Aaron Spelling fired her because of her pregnancy.

Early in her career in Los Angeles, Allred made a name for herself by successfully suing the then all-male Friars Club in Beverly Hills, an exclusive private club, over its membership discrimination policies. The lawsuit was brought by a professional woman in the late 1970s who was spurned by the club when her application was rejected based solely on her sex, a fact which the club denied but Allred proved in court.

In 1981, she sued California State Senator John G. Schmitz for slander, resulting in a settlement of $20,000 and an apology.

In 1985, Allred, along with Catherine MacKinnon, drafted a version of the Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance for Los Angeles County. The legislation failed to pass the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors,

She formerly co-hosted a radio talkshow with Mark Taylor on KABC in Los Angeles. She also served as a panelist on the 1990 revival of television game show To Tell the Truth.

In August 1997, she represented the model Kelly Fisher when she sued Dodi Fayed for allegedly breaking off their engagement to begin his highly-publicized relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. The suit was dropped not long after Diana and Fayed died in Paris that August.

She represented Nicole Brown Simpson's family during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. She also represented photographer Henry Trappler in a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. Allred is also known for her criticism of pop singer Michael Jackson. After watching media coverage of the Berlin event with Michael Jackson, she wrote a letter to California's Child Protective Services, asking for an investigation into the safety of Jackson's children. She also spoke on CNN about the subject. Child Protective Services does not make their investigations public, so it is not known whether any action was taken as a result of Allred's letter."

Gloria Allred also represented Rhonda Miller in a sexual harassment suit against Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run for California's gubernatorial recall election in 2003.The lawsuit was later dismissed.

In November 2006, Cindy Streit, etiquette consultant in the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan hired Gloria Allred, who demanded that the California Attorney General investigate fraud allegedly committed by Sacha Baron Cohen and the film's producers.

On July 19, 2007 she filed a lawsuit in Superior Court on behalf of Elizabeth Mazzocchi against actor Esai Morales for "intentional and negligent transmission of a sexually transmitted disease, assault, battery, and breach of contract."

She represented three former Circuit City employees on behalf of a large plaintiff class in an age discrimination lawsuit against that company after it fired 3,400 workers nationwide in April 2007.

In September 2007, she represented Tony Barretto, a former bodyguard of pop singer Britney Spears, in the child custody case between Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline.

She represented Mandi Hamlin in a March 2008 complaint against the TSA. Hamlin was reported to have been humiliated when she was made to take off her nipple rings in a Lubbock, Texas, airport.

In April 2008, it was reported that she had been hired by the family of the teenager who had been beaten and filmed by eight Florida teenagers. She also appeared on Today with Jessica Gibson, who is counter-suing Rob Lowe for sexual harassment.

On February 24, 2004, Gloria Allred and her law firm, Allred, Maroko and Goldberg, filed the first lawsuit in California challenging the denial of marriage licenses as being unconstitutional. She took the case pro bono for Robin Tyler and Diane Olson and Rev. Troy Perry and his husband Phillip Ray De Blieck. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples.

On July 30, 2008, Gloria Allred filed a complaint with federal regulators against Downey Savings and Loan Association regarding check-cashing procedures. Marc Retmier, a 19 year old US Navy Hospitalman, was killed in action in Afghanistan in June 2008. Downey Savings refused to immediately cash his family's military bereavement checks, and Marc Retmier's family were forced to look elsewhere to secure funding necessary to pay for his funeral services.

In December 2009, Allred was retained by Rachel Uchitel after media sources alleged Uchitel had been having an affair with married golfer Tiger Woods. Allred is also representing Joslyn James, a pornographic actress and Woods's alleged mistress.

In February, 2010, Allred was retained by Amanda J. Eneman, a massage therapist and ex-girlfriend of Illinois lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Scott Lee Cohen who had once had Cohen arrested, and who had herself been arrested for prostitution.

On May 14, 2010 in a news conference held at Allred's office, British actress Charlotte Lewis, alleged that director Roman Polanski had sexually abused her in his Paris apartment when she was 16 years old. In June 2010 she was hired by Debrahlee Lorenzana, a former bank employee who had drawn wide public attention after alleging she was fired for being too attractive. In August, 2010 Allred represented Jodie Fisher, whose sexual harassment claim led to the resignation of HP CEO Mark Hurd,. 

Gloria Allred In popular culture,

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2010)

Allred appears in a cameo role in the film Rat Race, where Wayne Knight's character exclaims "Oh ****, Gloria Allred!" after she has witnessed him hit Enrico Pollini. She also appears earlier in the film where the Cody brothers, played by Seth Green and Vince Vieluf, attempt to start a lawsuit against a hotel by slipping on a glass they placed at the top of a set of stairs. Before they go through with their plan, a woman slips on the glass and falls down the stairs. At the bottom, Gloria Allred introduces herself and plans to sue the hotel for negligence.

In The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter," she is featured at the family's lawyer-ridden Thanksgiving, being described as a "shrill feminist attorney."

In the South Park episode "Cripple Fight," Gloria Allred is Big Gay Al's lawyer against a Boy Scouts-like club that excludes homosexuals. She later accuses Al of homophobia when he attempts to withdraw the lawsuit.

On March 25, 2009, she appeared on Dr. Phil with Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. "Octomom". She had a list of criticisms regarding Suleman's performance as mother and homemaker.

On the April 10, 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live, musical guest and co-host Justin Bieber's character Jason told Tina Fey's character that he would be "contacting Gloria Allred" after Fey's character fantasized about Bieber's character.

In the Glee episode Britney/Brittany, the Glee club are performing a rendition of Britney's song Toxic in the auditorium. Sue pulls the fire alarm resulting in a stampede of students exiting the room, injuring her in the process. Later on she confronts Will and tells him that due to her injuries she would be contacting Gloria Allred and suing him for damages,.

Gloria Allred Works,

Allred, Gloria; Rybak, Deborah Caulfield (2006). Fight Back and Win: My Thirty Year Fight against Injustice and How You Can Win Your Own Battles. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 9780060739287. OCLC 62755633.

(source:wikipedia)