Award for ‘Roots’ Author

The country’s largest pro-Bono public-interest law firm, Public Counsel, held its 15th-annual William O. Douglas award dinner Thursday night in Beverly Hills.

The recipient of this year’s award was Alex Haley, the author of “Roots” and the man who conducted ground-breaking interviews on race in the 1960s with the likes of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell.

The Public Counsel lawyers, who sometimes visit their clients in makeshift homes, in abandoned buildings, and under freeway overpasses, assist in all sorts of legal services to community groups and low-income individuals. According to Executive Director Steve Nissen, the two most pressing issues facing the firm are the lack of affordable housing in L.A., along with childrens’ services.

“It’s a failing of our society that Public Counsel has become as needed as it is,” said Nissin, adding, “I don’t know if the county’s trying or not trying. But they’re certainly falling behind.”

Also honored were Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and the office of Levitt & Quinn, a nonprofit firm specializing in family law.

Ethel Levitt and Grace Quinn came out of retirement in their 60’s to found the firm, which serves the county’s working corps without the aid of federal funding. Begun in a Sunset Blvd. storefront 10 years ago, the firm now serves thousands of the county’s working poor without benefit of federal funding.

In the past, the women have resisted accolades, but the two have warmed to publicity for fund-raising purposes and they recently appeared on “60 Minutes.”

Quincy Jones (who composed the theme to the “Roots” mini-series) emceed the evening. Haley was the keynote speaker.

At the reception before the dinner, Haley discussed several current topics, including the Rodney King affair.

“It shocked us all,” he said, “and it showed that this cry we’ve been hearing (about police brutality) is no idle cry. It isn’t the first time it’s happened, but now it’s a solid fact.”

Regarding the Rev. Al Sharpton, who had arrived in L.A. that afternoon to organize a protest against Daryl Gates, Haley said, “The Rev. Al Sharptons of this world--and that’s a plural--all move to wherever the media and the photo opportunities are. I’m not at all surprised he’s come. He’ll speak, and he’ll agitate, and that may not be all bad when it’s all over.”

The evening raised $295,000 for Public Counsel.