Gloria Rachel Allred, originally Gloria Bloom, is a well-known American lawyer who fights for civil rights. She was born in 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Jewish working-class family.
Early life, Family, Education
Gloria went to Philadelphia High School for Girls and later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She first got married to Peyton Bray and had her only child, Lisa Bloom, but they got divorced in the late 1961. Later, she married William Allred in 1968, but they divorced in 1987 without having any children, though she kept the name Allred.
Career
She started her career as an English teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School after earning her Bachelor’s in English with honors. Gloria continued her education at New York University, where she became interested in civil rights and earned her Master of Arts. Moving to Los Angeles, she taught at Jordan High School and Fremont High School while working at the Los Angeles Teachers Association.
Her journey in law continued at the Southwestern University of Law, and she later transferred to Loyola University School of Law, where she received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1975. She also received an honorary J.D. from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law.
In 1976, Gloria founded her law firm, Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, with fellow Loyola University graduates Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg. She has represented high-profile clients like Arnold Schwarzenegger, O.J. Simpson, Anthony Weiner, and recently prosecuted Bill Cosby. She also established the Women’s Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Apart from her legal career, Gloria co-hosted a radio talk show with Mark Taylor on KABC for 14 years and served as a panelist on the TV game show To Tell the Truth. She was cast in the court TV show We the People with Gloria Allred in September 2011, where fabricated case scenarios were recreated.
