Robert J Cohen

Legal Aid lawyers in Orange County are probably best known for suing local officials who try to ban the homeless. That enrages conservatives, many of whom oppose the idea of lawyers getting paid by government to sue government. But local Legal Aid does a lot of other things for the 15,000 poor people who come though its doors each year--from divorces to going after scam artists who prey on the poor. Staff writer Michael Flagg visited the Santa Ana office of executive director Robert J.

Legal Aid lawyers in Orange County are probably best known for suing local officials who try to ban the homeless. That enrages conservatives, many of whom oppose the idea of lawyers getting paid by government to sue government. But local Legal Aid does a lot of other things for the 15,000 poor people who come though its doors each year--from divorces to going after scam artists who prey on the poor. Staff writer Michael Flagg visited the Santa Ana office of executive director Robert J.

The head of the Legal Aid Society in Orange County will receive a top state bar award Friday at the bar's annual meeting in Anaheim. Robert J. Cohen, 56, will receive the Loren Miller Legal Services award, presented to someone who has done significant work to extend legal services to those who couldn't pay. Cohen helped create a network of legal services for senior citizens and draft programs to fund legal services for low-income residents. He also spearheaded the use of self-help legal kiosks.

A 46-year-old woman who failed to show up for court last week after being accused of going on a drunken shooting spree in Thousand Oaks was arrested Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Woodland Hills, investigators said. Kathleen Ann Quinn has been undergoing psychological treatment at the hospital, her attorney said. She was booked at Ventura County Jail, a jail spokesman said.

Viva Supermarkets, whose shopping-cart-collection agency confiscated carts containing the possessions of homeless people in Santa Ana's Civic Center in April, has agreed to make up for the incident by distributing money, food and jobs to the poor. Under terms of an agreement negotiated by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, Viva will make a $25,000 donation to the Latino immigration rights group Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, which will distribute it to Santa Ana's homeless, said Robert J.

A Superior Court commissioner Thursday dismissed civil conspiracy allegations that were filed by several landlords against the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and two lawyers who helped hundreds of tenants mount a rent strike in 1985. Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer said that Legal Aid, its executive director, Robert J. Cohen, and former Legal Aid lawyer Richard L. Spix were engaging in "conduct that any lawyer should eagerly and proudly undertake . . .

Barely a year ago, Santa Ana's advocates for the homeless and the city were pitted against each other in disputes over the city's homeless population. The situation worsened when police conducted a "sweep" of Civic Center homeless, an action that backfired legally. The city appears to have learned something from its past failures, however. There is a new spirit of cooperation in Santa Ana on homeless issues.

A 47-year-old woman accused of going on a drunken shooting spree in Thousand Oaks Sunday failed to appear for her arraignment Friday, prompting a judge to issue a warrant for her arrest. A defense attorney said Kathleen Ann Quinn didn't show up in Ventura County Municipal Court because she had checked into a Woodland Hills psychological treatment facility. "She didn't wait for a court order," said attorney Robert J. Cohen of Woodland Hills.

A former Orange County man who operated a car-leasing company in Anaheim was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles on suspicion of evading state income tax by city authorities who seized $26,000 in cash, three handguns and records of his operations. Los Angeles authorities raided four locations, including the Los Angeles home of the suspect, E.T. Strickland, in a search for evidence of illegal activity, according to an affidavit in support of the search warrant.

A group of landlords were told Monday to present more evidence to support their lawsuit accusing Santa Ana and several tenants-rights organizations of conspiring to put the landlords out of business. Angered by rent strikes, the landlords are contending in the suit that their civil rights have been violated. U.S. District Judge Ferdinand F.