5 questions for: Johnnie L. Cochran Jr - Front Row - Interview

Ebony, Nov, 2003

1 With all of your high-profile cases and megamillion-dollar judgments, a lot of people figure you're up in the billionaire category along with Bill Gates (of Microsoft).

I'm not a billionaire. If there's a message, it's that when an African-American gets an opportunity, we make the best of it. This last judgment of $700 million just shows what you can do if you're prepared. After 40 years of practicing law, if I go to trial, I expect to win. For me, it's about bringing about change more than the money.

2 You seem to be popping up everywhere. How many enterprises are you involved in? And where is your main base of operation?

It's still law. We have well over 100 lawyers. We're in California, New York, Illinois, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and D.C. By the end of the year, we'll be in Louisiana, Missouri and Michigan. Los Angeles will always be home for me.

3 What else besides law?

I did write a book, The Lawyer's Life, and it was a best-seller. I'm doing a children's book, and I do speaking engagements all over the country.

4 What are your thoughts on the Kobe Bryant case?

I have a lot of regard for Kobe. I won't get involved because I'm not doing criminal law anymore, but if there's anything I can do to help, I will. I do think he'll be exonerated. He needs to get the trial out of that county as soon as possible, even though it's up to the judge. It's an all-White county.

5 Forty years after Martin Luther King's famous speech, have we overcome?

We've really made some progress, but we still have a long way to go. When you see battles against affirmative action and the inequities between what Blacks and Whites earn, you see how far we have to go. Reactionary forces want to turn things back. We've got to get involved in economics. When you have economic power, you can level the playing field.