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BY FRANK SWERTLOW

Staff Reporter

L.A. courtroom battles unfailingly capture the public’s curiosity, whether it’s a “trial of the century” as in the O.J. Simpson case, or a simple traffic violation involving Zsa Zsa Gabor and a Beverly Hills cop.

One reason for this rubber-necking, obviously, is that so many of the defendants in Los Angeles are famous or notorious, sometimes both. Another reason is that the significance of L.A. trials often extends far beyond the confines of Los Angeles. The trial of Rodney King, for example, galvanized the nation, as well as the world, on the issues of racism and police brutality.

To get a first-hand account of the L.A. court scene, the Business Journal talked with three veteran courtroom reporters Linda Deutsch, special correspondent of the Associated Press; Jim Moret, a CNN anchorman and a lawyer who reported on the O.J. Simpson trial; and Bill Whitaker, a CBS News correspondent who has covered a spate of courtroom battles, including the federal case against the L.A. policemen who beat Rodney King.

Question: Why do L.A. cases become so big in the media?

Moret: L.A. is the entertainment capital. It’s tougher to hide here. Stories don’t slip through the cracks because there is always someone sifting through the next layer. I don’t know if celebrities are more or less kinky or unusual or bizarre than average folks, but when they do something wrong, it goes out of character. Hugh Grant seems like a nice man you didn’t expect what he did (arrested for soliciting a prostitute). It is the juxtaposition of the ultra clean to the somewhat bizarre appetites that make the story more interesting.

Whitaker: Being the second-largest media market means that everybody (in the media) is here. When a case happens in L.A., it has national ramifications and repercussions.

Q: Any particular cases come to mind?

Whittaker: The federal Rodney King trial had everything. It touched a core in American society racism and police brutality. It looked straight into the racial divide.

Deutsch: Great trials are like screenplays. The great formula is a fish out of water. John DeLorean is charged with cocaine trafficking. O.J. Simpson is tried for murder. We never expected this from our heroes. But heroes, as we see, change.

Q: Which trial lawyers have impressed you the most?

Deutsch: Johnnie Cochran has a great gift of oratory and he knows the law. Robert Shapiro is without peer in settling cases. Petrocelli is very focused, and in civil law you need a different talent than in criminal law. You have to be able to analyze massive amounts of information. Marvin Mitchelson was great. He could connect with a jury and was homey. He always chose cases with a lot of pizzazz. Leslie Abramson is the best of the best. She’s dedicated, dynamic, very abrasive to a lot of people, but that doesn’t hurt her in the courtroom. Donald Re is an absolute professional. He’s never been duplicitous. He never says anything that isn’t the absolute truth.

Moret: Johnnie Cochran is effective in sensing the pulse of the jurors. He strips away the legal argument and makes the case easily understood. He also taps into something that is personal for each juror. Daniel Petrocelli (in the Simpson civil trial) is skillful at crafting questions that go to the heart of the matter.

Q: Is there one trait that all great trial lawyers have?

Moret: They are like marathon runners. Much of what you don’t see is the grueling work they do before the race the preparation outside the courtroom.

Deutsch: The ability to connect with juries. It’s indefinable, but all eyes are on them. They have an instinctive ability to choose a jury, which is where every case is won. They know how to read the tea leaves.

Whitaker: The good ones are able to present their case in a simple, straight narrative that is easy to grasp and doesn’t change.

Q: How important is showmanship in court?

Whitaker: I recently served on a jury and I watched a prosecutor present a clear and precise case. In the end, it was his facts that won. You can’t win by being a showman without a case. Showmanship doesn’t go very far.

Deutsch: Almost all the lawyers who are showmen go into criminal law. They love center stage. Clarence Darrow, Melvin Belli were great performers. They know that a courtroom is theater. The judge is the director, the jury the audience, and the lawyers are the stars front and center.

Moret: There are two keys to winning a case style and substance. Either one, alone, is not sufficient to help you win. If you simply have substance, you cannot win unless you are engaging.

Q: Some people criticize Gloria Allred for spending more time talking to the news media than to judges and juries. What do you make of her style?

Whitaker: She’s an advocate for her clients. She’s like a light bulb that turns on at the most unlikeliest of places and when she does, everybody pays attention. In that way, she serves her clients. All eyes are on her client and her issue.

Deutsch: She’s P.R.-friendly. She latches onto an issue that will be the issue of the moment. She has an instinct for that.

Q: What is your role as a reporter at these trials?

Deutsch: Be objective. Present the facts and let people make up their own minds. I don’t take a position. I try to be fair to both sides. I took a lot of heat during the O.J. trial because I didn’t take a position, but I have confidence that the public, given the information, will make its own decision.

Whitaker: I’ve learned that it is unwise to play the sports game who is winning and who is behind. Once the defense starts its case, things can look completely different.

Moret: I try in a non-partisan fashion, on a daily basis, to distill for the viewer what happened in court. I don’t look at my role as a scorekeeper. You have to listen to both arguments before making a decision. That is what we ask juries to do, and we don’t always hold ourselves to the same standards.

Q: How have you seen attorneys affected by the spotlight of a major trial?

Deutsch: The toll is great, and when a really high-profile trial is over, the lawyers have terrible withdrawal. They are no longer on stage and the limelight stops. William Ginsberg (Monica Lewinsky’s first lawyer) had everybody hanging on his words, on the street and in his driveway. But then when it is over, you have to go back to the real world.

Whitaker: When people are chasing you down the street to get a comment and people know who you are, here and around the world, it can become seductive.

Moret: Once they make a name for themselves by being in the spotlight of a high-profile case, they seem to get other ones. One breeds another. If you want to get press for your case, who better than a lawyer who is media savvy.

Q: What do you think of lawyers trying their cases in the news media and not in court?

Whitaker: If you’re smart and know what you’re doing, it can be effective. The defense in the O.J. Simpson trial was speaking through us to try and shake the case before it went to anybody.

Deutsch: Everybody wants to affect the outcome of a trial and lawyers are mindful that someone will be exposed to pre-trial publicity before they are sworn in as jurors. But if someone is acquitted, you have to fight a new battle (outside the courtroom). Everyone always remembers that the defendant was charged. John DeLorean’s obit will say that he was charged with drug trafficking. (He was acquitted.) You have to keep defending your client even after he is acquitted.

Moret: The public relations aspect of law is perhaps as important as the practice of law, especially in Los Angeles. Johnnie Cochran is the master of this. You have to be media-savvy outside the courtroom because that is all many people see of a trial.

Q: After covering so many trials, do you ever wish you had become a lawyer?

Moret: I did practice law and, as many lawyers discern, it wasn’t for me. But studying law made me a better reporter, especially in asking questions and staying impartial.

Deutsch: No. I get the best cases, and if I practiced law, I would have to do the routine ones. I also don’t think I have the guts to take someone’s life in my hands. I wouldn’t sleep well if people were dependent on my words.

Whitaker: I applied to law school, and I got into UCLA, but at the last minute I thought the better of it and went to journalism school.

Q: What do you think of major trials as entertainment?

Moret: Attorney analysts have become a cottage industry. My concern is that the viewers don’t know the qualifications of the commentator. It seems anyone with a law degree has become a pundit. But I do think that they have become entertainment. I refer to the O.J. Simpson trial. The networks pre-empted soap operas when they were going gavel-to-gavel. When they didn’t, CNN would siphon away viewers. Since the Simpson trial, soap opera ratings have never recovered. The problem with a trial as entertainment is that people view it as a soap opera and they look for dramatic peaks and valleys and an unfolding mystery. But cases don’t unfold like Perry Mason. That is why keeping a scorecard day by day can be dangerous.

Whitaker: It is a fear I have. I don’t think it has become a problem as yet. I think it is important for Americans to know how their court system works and the issues that are dealt with. As a country, this defines us and shows where we are going, and it is usually worked out in a courtroom.

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