criminal defense
In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...
lawyer and television personality. A native of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, she is a legal analyst for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
, having previously worked in criminal defense in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and taught at
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
. Additionally, she is an author, actress, and is married to
William Bratton
William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016). He previously served as the Commissioner of the ...
, former chief of the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
and former Police Commissioner of the
New York Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
.
Early life
Klieman was born in 1948 to a
Ukrainian Jewish
The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...
immigrant family in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, where she danced, acted, and sang as a youth.Gayle Pollard-Terry. Style and Culture: Counsel to the cop: She fits the profile. ''Los Angeles Times'', October 14, 2002. Klieman attended
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
where she was a theater major and had plans of becoming an actress.Rikki Klieman. CourtTV. Retrieved on May 21, 2007. However, she decided to attend law school. Klieman graduated from
Boston University School of Law
Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...
in 1975 with her
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
. During
law school
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
she externed for
U.S. District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
judge
Walter Jay Skinner
Walter Jay Skinner (September 12, 1927 – May 8, 2005) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Education and career
Born in Washington, D.C., Skinne ...
.
Legal career
After law school Klieman was an assistant district attorney for the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, before she joined the Boston, Massachusetts,
law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...
of Friedman & Atherton and then started her own private practice. In 1983 she was named by ''Time'' magazine as one of the five best female attorneys in the United States. In 1993 in the case of Commonwealth v. Twitchell she defended the
Christian Scientist
Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
parents whose two year old son died of an untreated bowel obstruction. From 1996 to 2003 she was a member of the faculty of
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, and previously taught at the law school of her alma mater, Boston University.
Other
Klieman worked for
TruTV
TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows.
The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...
until October 30, 2009, when its news division was absorbed into
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
's existing crime/justice coverage unit. She has also acted in the guest-recurring role of lawyer Kathy Berson on TV series ''Las Vegas'' during the 2005–06 season. More recently, she has appeared on the TV show ''Shark''. She also wrote her autobiography with co-author
Peter Knobler
Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''Crawdaddy'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.Justice Served" of the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
police procedural drama '' Blue Bloods'', as well as appearing in 2014 in the season 5 episode " Loose Lips" as Judge Fowler, and again appeared as Judge Fowler in 2015 in the 6th-season episode "
Rush to Judgment
''Rush to Judgment: A Critique of the Warren Commission's Inquiry into the Murders of President John F. Kennedy, Officer J.D. Tippit and Lee Harvey Oswald'' is a 1966 book by American lawyer Mark Lane (author), Mark Lane. It is about the Assassin ...
" of '' Blue Bloods''.
As of 2015, Klieman regularly appears as a legal analyst for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
' morning news show ''
CBS This Morning
''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...