Lisa Read Bloom (née Bray; born September 20, 1961) is an American civil rights attorney known for representing women whose sexual harassment claims precipitated the firing of Bill O'Reilly from Fox News and for advising Harvey Weinstein amid sexual abuse allegations.
Bloom founded and owns a twelve-attorney civil rights law firm, the Bloom Firm, and has represented clients including Kathy Griffin and Mischa Barton. Bloom was also the anchor of Lisa Bloom: Open Court (formerly Bloom and Politan: Open Court), a two-hour live legal news program on truTV's In Session, from 2006 to 2009.
Bloom is the only child of civil rights attorney Gloria Allred and Peyton Huddleston Bray Jr.
Video Lisa Bloom
Early life and education
Bloom was born Lisa Read Bray, the daughter of Gloria Bloom (later Allred) and father Peyton Huddleston Bray Jr. Her parents' marriage was short-lived--they had married and divorced while in college. Peyton Bray, who suffered from bipolar disorder, later committed suicide, and Bloom subsequently took her mother's maiden name. When Bloom was 7, her mother remarried to William C. Allred. Bloom received a bachelor's degree from UCLA, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was National College Debate Champion. She earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Yale Law School in 1986.
Maps Lisa Bloom
Career
Early career
After graduating from law school, Bloom began her career in New York and by 1991 worked at her mother's law firm, Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, assisting in unsuccessfully suing the Boy Scouts of America for sex discrimination on behalf of Katrina Yeaw, a girl who wanted to join the organization. While at her mother's firm, Bloom also filed a child sexual abuse suit against the Roman Catholic Church and sued the LAPD.
Later career
In 2001 Bloom left her mother's firm, having parlayed her legal and familial notoriety into a lucrative career in cable news punditry, eventually serving as a legal analyst on CBS News, CNN, HLN, and MSNBC, and appearing on The Early Show, The Insider, Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, The Situation Room, Reliable Sources, The Joy Behar Show, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, and The Stephanie Miller Show. Bloom returned to practicing law in 2010 when she founded the Bloom Firm, a small, general-practice law firm that handles family, civil and criminal matters. She is licensed to practice law in both New York and California.
At the Bloom Firm, Bloom has represented several notable clients, including model and actress Janice Dickinson in her defamation case against comedian Bill Cosby, as well as model and actress Mischa Barton in her revenge porn case. Model Blac Chyna later hired Bloom to obtain a temporary restraining order against socialite Rob Kardashian, with whom Chyna shares a daughter, Dream. Amid a series of sexual abuse allegations against powerful men in entertainment and media, and following a BuzzFeed report detailing a sexual harassment settlement paid out of Representative John Conyers' office budget, Bloom represented Marion Brown, who spoke to BuzzFeed off the record and later came forward publicly to allege harassment by Conyers.
Bill O'Reilly sexual harassment allegations
In 2017 Bloom represented three women accusing then-Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment. Jehmu Greene, a television commentator who had appeared on Fox News, also approached Bloom with sexual harassment allegations against O'Reilly, although she ultimately declined Bloom's services. One of Bloom's clients, Wendy Walsh, filed the complaint that caused Fox News' parent company, 21st Century Fox, to initiate an investigation that led to O'Reilly's dismissal and the end of his eponymous program.
Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Bloom offered to represent four women who said they had sexual misconduct allegations against presidential candidate Donald Trump. Two of these women came forward with their allegations, including Jill Harth and Lisa Boyne, and two who did not, including a woman from Virginia and an unnamed client called "Jane Doe" who claimed that Trump had raped her when she was thirteen years old.
On November 2, 2016, Bloom canceled a press conference with "Jane Doe" saying her client was scared because of death threats. According to Bloom, after this press conference, "Multiple donors then contacted me out of the blue with offers to ensure the safety of women who might still come forward. As an attorney I was obligated to relay those offers of funds for relocation to a safer community and round the clock security, and I was happy to do it." The Virginian woman said that Bloom had offered her as much as $750,000, but that she ultimately declined the offer and did not come forward. One of the donors reportedly helped Harth pay off her mortgage. The New York Times identified these donors as David Brock's American Bridge 21st Century, which offered $200,000, and Susie Tompkins Buell, who offered $500,000.
Harvey Weinstein and Roy Price sexual misconduct allegations
Bloom received significant media attention after Harvey Weinstein was accused of serial sexual harassment. According to an October 2017 article in The New York Times, Bloom acknowledged advising Weinstein on power dynamics and harassment, calling him "an old dinosaur learning new ways" and asserting that "he denies many of the accusations as patently false". Bloom's advising role, which she had held since the Fall of 2016, was pilloried in the media for its dissonance with Bloom's prior representation of sexual assault victims, with some calling her book adaptation deal with The Weinstein Company, signed during Weinstein's tenure as co-chairman, a conflict of interest.
On October 7, 2017, two days after the initial reports and amid mounting criticism, Bloom stepped down from the team advising Weinstein after reported friction with members of The Weinstein Company's board. Bloom, according to emails purportedly obtained by The New York Times, had proposed promulgating "photos of several of the accusers in very friendly poses with Harvey after his alleged misconduct". Bloom denied plotting to undermine the accusers; however, The Daily Beast later reported that Bloom had offered journalist Ronan Farrow opposition research on one of Weinstein's accusers, Rose McGowan, during his reporting on Weinstein.
Shortly after resigning from Weinstein's team, Bloom fell victim to an email prankster masquerading as Weinstein. Bloom emailed the prankster that "[t]he new round of far more serious allegations were [sic] not made known to me", specifically calling out Weinstein's alleged sexual assault. Variety later reported that Bloom "was only aware of accusations of verbal remarks, behaviors, and temper tantrums" when she began advising Weinstein, and was unaware of more serious allegations of rape and sexual assault. Bloom later apologized for her role advising Weinstein and called it "a colossal mistake".
Bloom also represented former Amazon Studios president Roy Price amid sexual harassment allegations, but said her representation of Price concluded before Price's accuser Isa Hackett "went public". The Daily Beast reported that Bloom, while representing Price, had attempted to discredit Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter's Editor-at-Large, to media outlets considering publishing Masters' report on the allegations against Price. Bloom had allegedly accused Masters of a conflict of interest for badgering Price to advertise on her KCRW show, a charge Masters denied.
Kathy Griffin controversy and fallout
Following a controversial 2017 photo shoot in which comedienne Kathy Griffin clenched a severed and bloodied head resembling President Donald Trump, Bloom held a joint press conference with Griffin, then her client, to address the controversy. Their appearance was widely panned in the media for its self-victimization and lack of focus.
Amid the fallout over Bloom's role advising Harvey Weinstein, Griffin posted a Facebook video denouncing Bloom and her husband, Braden Pollock, for "exacerbat[ing] my personal situation". Griffin later tweeted asking Bloom to stop calling her and denounced Bloom for "fame-whoring," a criticism of Bloom's proposal for a joint media tour following their joint press conference. Bloom also, according to Griffin, charged exorbitant legal fees, which Griffin estimated amounted to $40,000 for two days' representation, including by defense attorney Dmitry Gorin, whom Bloom had allegedly hired without Griffin's consent. In response to Griffin's comments, Bloom claimed she "had no idea there was a problem" and released a statement that criticized Griffin for speaking extemporaneously at the press conference but nevertheless wished her well.
In response to Griffin, Tamara Holder, a former Bloom client, and Jehmu Greene, who had considered hiring Bloom, came forward with their own criticisms. Bloom, whom Holder had retained after accusing Fox News Latino Vice President Francisco Cortes of sexual assault, proposed an initial retainer agreement that awarded Bloom 40% of any settlement, as well as a $10,000 retainer fee and reimbursement for any relevant hotel and travel expenses. Although Holder ultimately negotiated a more favorable contract, she criticized Bloom for thousands of dollars in extraneous expenses and for allegedly pushing Holder to accept a gag order in her settlement with Fox News. For her part, Greene called Bloom "deceptive" for presenting her with a contract for media representation after a meeting focused primarily on legal services. Bloom responded to the allegations by stating that "the vast majority of [the Bloom Firm's] clients are delighted with our work".
Martin Chitwood case loss
In October 2014, Lisa Bloom and the Bloom Firm were retained by Carol Swanson Chitwood (n/k/a Carol Swanson Smith) to pursue domestic violence claims against her then husband, Martin Chitwood, a prominent Atlanta attorney, who had sued her for divorce in Atlanta two months earlier. While the divorce was still pending, Bloom filed suit against Mr. Chitwood in California asserting domestic violence claims on Ms. Chitwood's behalf. Mr. Chitwood denied the allegations, claiming they had been asserted against him as a tactic to prevent the enforcement of the parties' prenuptial agreement and to force a settlement, both of which proved unsuccessful. Mr. Chitwood refused to settle, and on August 31, 2017, after a five-week civil trial before the Honorable Joan Lewis in the Superior Court of San Diego, a twelve person jury found Mr. Chitwood was not liable for a single claim that Bloom had brought against him. Bloom did not appeal.
Other
Bloom and her firm are representing male model Jason Boyce in his lawsuit against fashion photographer Bruce Weber among other people in New York State Supreme Court in December 2017.
Personal life
Bloom married her current husband, Braden Pollock, on December 5, 2014. Pollock is the founder of Legal Brand Marketing and now works as the Bloom firm's manager. Bloom lives with her husband and a foster son in Los Angeles. Bloom has two adult children, daughter Sarah Wong Bloom and son Samuel "Sam/Sammy" Wong, with her ex-husband Jim Wong, a LAUSD teacher. A vegetarian since 16, Bloom has been vegan since 2009. She is Jewish.
Books
Bloom has written three books, including Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World, from 2011, and Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness, and Thug Culture, from 2012. In early 2017, The Weinstein Company and Jay-Z announced plans to adapt Bloom's 2014 book, Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It, into a six-part documentary series. The status of the project is unknown following turmoil at the Weinstein Company.
References
External links
- Lisa Bloom on IMDb
- Lisa Bloom's Official Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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