Gladys Towles Root
Gladys Towles Root grew up in a protective, upper-class household on a wheat ranch-- which is today covered by downtown Los Angeles. Coincidentally, Gladys was born in 1905, on the same day that California became a state.
In 1930, fresh out of University of Southern California law school, Gladys opened a tiny law office in the financial district of Los Angeles. Despite her office's close proximity to the city's skid row, Gladys had no aspirations of practicing criminal law when she began her practice. In fact, one could easily say that nothing in Gladys' background predisposed her to criminal law--and especially the sex crimes cases she would become so famous for taking.
Gladys received her first client, but what started out as a divorce case took a rather shocking turn. Twenty-four hours after Gladys had met with her first client, Louis called his lady lawyer to find out whether his divorce was finished. Gladys, in response, told Louis that "the wheels of legal machinery turn slowly." The following day, Gladys received a telegraph from her client from the local jail. Louis had found his wife and her lover in bed together. The lover escaped, but his wife was killed. Louis told Gladys that he killed his wife because the divorce took too long. So, Gladys' first case ever was to defend Louis Osuna of a murder charge. Gladys saved Louis from the electric chair and got him a charge of manslaughter with a short sentence instead.
Gladys's claim to fame is that she won more sex crimes cases than any lawyer in United States history-- either male or female. She began taking sex crimes defendants because these were the clients which no other attorney wanted to take. Gladys, however, believed that everyone had a right to representation. Gladys built her practice up such that she averaged seventy-five courtroom appearances per month throughout her fifty-two year career; she maintained this rate even throughout two pregnancies. At one point her office was handling 1,600 cases a year; this is more criminal cases than any other private American law firm.
Gladys was as colorful a character as the clothing she wore. To say the least, the woman was complex. Her gutsy, flamboyant style is awe-inspiring. Gladys, the attorney, should be admired for building a brilliant legal career at a time when it was difficult for women to gain recognition as equals--one wonders, however, what price was paid by others for her success.
Gladys was by all accounts a woman of extremes. Her four-foot hats, zeal for color in her eccentric wardrobe and hair, and her egg-sized jewelry, however, were only part of the picture. The other part of the picture contains a woman who was anything but 'a little bit nuts' as she once described herself. Gladys was a serious attorney who despite her outlandish appearance gained the respect and admiration of the majority of her peers at a time when women were rare on the legal scene. She also worked hard to earn the respect and trust of the people who should matter most to attorneys--her clients. Perhaps it was because Gladys felt such compassion for the sex-crime defendants she gained notoriety for defending-- those which she called the "loose spokes in the wheel of life." Gladys defended her sex-crimes clients with such vigor that she often trampled on the victims-- indeed she believed so strongly in her clients that she rarely saw that victims existed at all.
Gladys did not "look" like an attorney, nor did she sometimes "act" like one-- yet she was still a very successful attorney. Gladys and her successful legal career are an important riddle to solve; from the life of Gladys Towles Root we may begin to find some answers on how to be both women and successful attorneys--on our own terms.
In July of 1964 an indictment was issued against Gladys by the Federal Grand Jury in connection with her actions during her defense of one of the defendants in the kidnapping case of Frank Sinatra, Jr. Three men had kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. from across the California-Nevada state line at Lake Tahoe and transported him to Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra Jr. was taken at gun point from his room on a night when he was scheduled to appear at the nightclub Harrah's. The kidnappers collected $240,000 for the nineteen year old from his famous father Frank Sinatra Sr.--most of this money was ultimately recovered, however.
Gladys was hired to defend one of the kidnappers, John William Irwin, age forty-two, of whom Gladys said, "This man is not a criminal type. His mind is broad and open, and he does not think connivingly. He is inconceivably naive. Gladys defended her client with her usual zeal--perhaps this time a bit too much zeal. Charges were brought against Gladys based on her allegedly fabricating a story that the young singer concocted the kidnapping for publicity reasons. Gladys was indicted in 1964 on charges of conspiracy, suborning perjury, and obstruction of justice. It was not until four years later that the charges against her were dropped.
Not only was she a lawyer, but a law changer too. One case when a Filipino man came to see Gladys because he wanted to gain the right to marry his Caucasian girlfriend, who was then pregnant with his child. From her tireless research Gladys was able to formulate an argument based on the improper classification of the Filipino race. The result was that Gladys was able to get the law declared unconstitutional--and her young couple was able to marry.
On Tuesday, December 21, 1982 Gladys Towles Root died in a Pomona courtroom of a heart attack at age 77. She died in the only manner which seemed fitting for such a staunch advocate of the rights of criminals--during the trial of a sex crimes case. Gladys died, not only doing to work which she loved, but she died in all the splendor in which she lived. On the day of her death, Gladys was attired completely in gold.