Apr 04, 2020 · Actor and football star O. J. Simpson had four lawyers representing him at his trial for murder: Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Robert Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey. Collectively, they were known as the “Dream Team.”
Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 1944, one of three children born to Arthur Kardashian (October 27, 1917 – December 9, 2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (July 15, 1917 – May 21, 2008), both Armenian Americans. He had a sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman, and a brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian.
Kardashian and Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends. Simpson was the best man at Robert Kardashian and Kris Houghton 's wedding in 1978. Robert was the water boy for the USC Trojans football team which would be ranked #1 in the nation in the AP Poll.
Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at age 59, and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
Kardashian was portrayed by David Schwimmer in the 2016 FX miniseries American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson. Schwimmer was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance, but lost to Sterling K. Brown, who portrayed Christopher Darden in the same series.
Kardashian had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian ( née Houghton, later Jenner): Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloé, and Rob.
Having moved up the legal ranks in L.A.'s criminal division, Cochran went on to represent some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Michael Jackson and James Brown. In 1994, he was considered one of the best trial lawyers in the nation, and it was Simpson himself who asked Shapiro to bring Cochran onto the team.
As the prosecution's witness, Dennis Fung — the LAPD criminologist who collected evidence at the murder scene — ended up spending the longest time testifying on the stand. For nine days, Fung recalled how he collected samples of blood, albeit admittedly overlooking some important areas where blood drops were identified and not always using gloves.
Marcia Clark (Prosecution) An ace trial lawyer for the L.A. District Attorney's office, Clark spent years in the Special Trials Unit, which involved some of the most complex investigations, before becoming the lead prosecutor of the Simpson murder trial.
Christopher Darden (Prosecution ) Despite being a co-prosecuting attorney with Clark, Darden had limited trial experience. Still, as a Black man amid a majority Black jury, his participation was important so as to dismiss the notion that the otherwise all-white people prosecution had racist motivations against Simpson.
Aspiring actor and houseguest of Simpson, Brian "Kato" Kaelin was a star witness for the prosecution. Present at Simpson 's Rockingham mansion at the time of the murders, Kaelin claimed that he ate dinner with Simpson that night but could not account for the star athlete's whereabouts between the hours of 9:36 p.m. and 11 p.m. (the prosecution theorized that Simpson murdered his ex-wife and Goldman between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.).
Robert Shapiro (Defense) A lover of the spotlight, lead defense counsel Sha piro knew how to make a deal without going to trial and was a master at manipulating the media in order to garner sympathy for his famous clients. In fact, he was praised as the "Defense Counsel of the Year" in 1994, which even Judge Ito applauded.
Judge Lance Ito. Photo: POO/AFP/Getty Images. Before Lance Ito was appointed to the bench in 1989, he was an attorney for the L.A. district and at one point, worked under Cochran.
Robert Shapiro (lawyer) For other people with the same name, see Robert Shapiro. Robert Leslie Shapiro (born September 2, 1942) is an American lawyer. He is best known for being the short-term defense lawyer of Erik Menendez in 1990, and a member of the " Dream Team " of O. J. Simpson 's attorneys that successfully defended him from ...
He has represented famous athletes, most notably O. J. Simpson, Darryl Strawberry, José Canseco, and Vince Coleman. He has represented other celebrities as well, such as Johnny Carson, Christian Brando, Linda Lovelace, the Kardashians, and F. Lee Bailey.
Early life and education. Shapiro was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. He graduated from Hamilton High School in Los Angeles in 1961 and UCLA in 1965, with a B.S. in Finance. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in 1968.
Though Travolta's performance was met with mixed reviews, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, which he lost to his co-star Sterling K. Brown, who portrayed Christopher Darden.
Shapiro is known as a "celebrity" lawyer and as such is a celebrity himself. He has appeared as himself (or as a lawyer resembling his real-life self) in a number of films and television series, including the film Havoc (2005). He has also been portrayed by actors in film dramatizations of the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
Robert Leslie Shapiro (born September 2, 1942) is an American lawyer. He is best known for being the short-term defense lawyer of Erik Menendez in 1990, and a member of the "Dream Team" of O. J. Simpson's attorneys that successfully defended him from the charges that he murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1994. He later turned t…
Shapiro was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. He graduated from Hamilton High School in Los Angeles in 1961 and UCLA in 1965, with a B.S. in Finance. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in 1968. At UCLA, he pledged the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau with his best friend, Roger Cossack.
Shapiro married Linell Thomas on March 8, 1970. They had two sons, Grant and Brent.
After his son Brent's death from a drug overdose in 2005, he founded the Brent Shapiro Foundation, a nonprofit organization with an aim to raise drug awareness, for which he serves as chairman of the board, as well as Pickford Lofts, a rehabilitation facility.
Shapiro was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1969. He has represented famous athletes, most notably O. J. Simpson, Darryl Strawberry, José Canseco, and Vince Coleman. He has represented other celebrities as well, such as Johnny Carson, Christian Brando, Linda Lovelace, the Kardashians, and F. Lee Bailey. In 1998, he sued Strawberry over unpaid legal fees; the case was eventually settled out of court.
Shapiro is known as a "celebrity" lawyer and as such is a celebrity himself. He has appeared as himself (or as a lawyer resembling his real-life self) in a number of films and television series, including the film Havoc (2005). He has also been portrayed by actors in film dramatizations of the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
• Bruce Weitz portrayed Shapiro in the Fox TV movie The O. J. Simpson Story (1995).
• Robert Shapiro at IMDb