Opri doesn't dispute the actual charges, but insists that they need to be understood in context. The two meals for $1,116.16 and $2,467 at the swank Graycliff restaurant in Nassau? She had simply treated Bahamian counsel Birkhead wanted to use to a fancy meal to persuade them to forego their $25,000 retainer to start the case. "Why was I paying for a $500 box of Cuban cigars she took home?" asked Birkhead angrily, who points out that she also took her husband, and had flown him to the Bahamas at Birkhead's expense.
The $800 spent on a lobster dinner and groceries? That was a thank-you barbecue for the Florida family who'd put her and Birkhead up in their home for over a week, for free. "Where I come from, you don't just take, you do something," said Opri.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, August 17, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part Page Metro Desk 4 inches; 172 words Type of Material: Correction
Debra Opri: In a July 22 Calendar article about Los Angeles attorney Debra Opri, Larry Birkhead, a former client who is disputing her bill in court among other claims, said that Opri billed him for a box of Cuban cigars that she took home. According to Opri, the cigars were Graycliff brand cigars, which are made in the Bahamas. She also said the cigars were a gift for Mark Speer, who was handling security on the Birkhead case for no pay. The same article incorrectly stated that lawyers for David Hasselhoff filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court to get his ex-wife Pamela Bach's financial records and Opri's records so they could determine the exact sum that they allege Bach and/or Opri received in connection with the sale of a video of a drunken Hasselhoff. The legal document Hasselhoff's attorney filed was in opposition to Opri's motion to quash the subpoenas seeking financial records. The article stated that Opri denied having anything to do with the sale of the Hasselhoff video.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, August 19, 2007 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 4 inches; 170 words Type of Material: Correction
Debra Opri: In a July 22 article about Los Angeles attorney Debra Opri, Larry Birkhead, a former client who is disputing her bill in court among other claims, said that Opri billed him for a box of Cuban cigars that she took home. According to Opri, the cigars were Graycliff brand cigars, which are made in the Bahamas. She also said the cigars were a gift for Mark Speer, who was handling security on the Birkhead case for free. The same story incorrectly stated that lawyers for David Hasselhoff filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court to get his ex-wife Pamela Bach's financial records and Opri's records so they could determine the exact sum that they allege Bach and/or Opri received in connection with the sale of a video of a drunken Hasselhoff. The legal document Hasselhoff's attorney filed was in opposition to Opri's motion to quash the subpoenas seeking financial records. The article stated that Opri denied having anything to do with the sale of the Hasselhoff video.
In her legal case, Opri had claimed that Birkhead's NBC money was subject to her lien for attorney's fees, but in his tentative written ruling preceding his final judgment, Judge Lee unequivocally struck that down.
Her legal background
A graduate of New York University and Whittier Law School, Opri in the recent interview described her practice as 25% family law, 10% criminal law, and the rest civil litigation. Despite her recent foray into high-stakes family law, she is not a certified family law specialist or by her own admission a member of the insular world of L.A.'s celebrity divorce bar. Cary Goldstein, a palimony specialist himself, had Opri as a law clerk and said, "In the right case, Debra could do a great job for her client. I don't believe her forte is family law."
While her first celebrity client might have been James Brown, whom she successfully defended in a sexual harassment claim, Opri's real entree into the media limelight came via the Jacksons. Not Michael Jackson but his parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson. When the King of Pop went on trial for child molestation in 2005, charges of which he was eventually acquitted, Opri said she was hired to let his parents "know what was going on in the courtroom, to explain the law to them."
How she met them is a matter of some conjecture.
The parents declined to be interviewed for this story, but Sitrick arranged for a statement from Katherine Jackson, sent by someone who purported to be her assistant. In it, Jackson stated that she met Opri through James Brown and was "extremely pleased" with her services.
But by another account their introduction was far more colorful and occurred in 2004 at the opening-night party for Katherine's, the West Hollywood restaurant owned by Joe Jackson and named after his wife. According to a person who attended the party, Opri was also there, lingering for more than two hours with the paparazzi outside the restaurant's VIP room, where the Jackson patriarch and other celebrities such as boxer Mike Tyson had gathered. The source said: "A door opens and out walks Joe Jackson and the second that door opened up, that woman literally leapt into the middle of the crowd, thrust her hand into the air like a clenched-fist '60s black-power salute and yelled, 'Joe Jackson! Joe Jackson! It's Debra Opri! I represented the Godfather of Soul!' [Joe] looked completely stunned. She then thrust her [business] card into his hand. Joe took the card."
Publicist Angel Howansky, who is close to the Jacksons, says she and TV producer Daphne Barak took Opri to meet the Jackson parents after she'd met Opri at a book signing for a book about Michael Jackson. "I saw [Opri] and I said, 'My God, you just have this confidence that blares out. I would love to introduce you to the family.' " A source who works with Barak confirms this account. That day, Howansky says she saw Joe Jackson sign a contract with Opri.
Opri initially declined to explain how she knew the Jacksons, but when faced with the myriad accounts, she said she was initially introduced to Joe Jackson at a Grammy party and met him twice more at Katherine's.
Whatever the origins of their relationship, landing the Jackson parents turned out to be a boon to Opri's career. Given that the actual lawyers who tried and defended Michael Jackson were under a judge's gag order, Opri had a field day giving interviews.
According to former Court TV reporter Dimond, Opri would arrive at the courthouse in Santa Maria, Calif., driving a black Mercedes coupe with the personalized license plate reading "Opri" and head straight for the TV cameras. "And she would say some of the most outrageous things. She wasn't talking about the family. She would start talking about the criminal facts of the case," said Dimond. According to news accounts, Opri often gave the media pro-Jackson play-by-play accounts of the trial from the courthouse steps and made the TV rounds as a Jackson booster. She told Bill O'Reilly, she was "not in it for the publicity.... I've told you I believe Michael Jackson is innocent and I believe he's a victim."
