GN summer fall09 Digital.indd - National Lawyers Guild

Guild Notes ▪ Summer/Fall 2009Hugh Manes loses battle with emphysema at 84Hugh Manes, 1924-2009. Photo by NikolManes and courtesy of the Los AngelesTimes.The following obituary is excerptedfrom the one written by Elaine Woo andpublished in the Los Angeles Times onJune 18, 2009.Hugh R. Manes, veteran civil rightslawyer and long-time Guild member,died in June after a long battle withemphysema.Manes was born in Chicago on July7, 1924. After graduating high school,he joined the Army as a second lieutenantand served in Europe during WorldWar II. Injured in combat, he was fondof telling people that he was awarded aSilver Star and a Purple Heart while sittingon a bed pan in a military hospital.After the war, he earned a BA atUCLA and a law degree at NorthwesternUniversity in 1952. He began hiscareer at the LA law firm of Wirin,Rissman & Okrand, which was headedby A.L. Wirin, the longtime chief counselof the ACLU in Los Angeles.Manes worked on a number of caseswith the ACLU, representing JapaneseAmericans who had lost property as aresult of federal actions after the PearlHarbor attack and individuals who hadbeen targeted as communists by theHouse Un-American Activities Committee.During the 1960s, he workedwith lawyers from the NLG to gatherevidence of the disenfranchisement ofblack voters in Mississippi. He also representedmen seeking draft defermentsand conscientious objector status.Manes began representing victimsof police misconduct in the 1960s.He tried more than 400 cases duringhis career, and was “probably one ofthe finest” advocates for police-abusevictims in Southern California, saidRobert R. Devich, who presided over a1995 police brutality trial that resultedin a record-setting $23-million award toa group of Samoan-Americans representedby Manes and two colleagues.Manes, who looked like WinstonChurchill and could fill a courtroomwith his baritone voice, encouragedand trained dozens of lawyers to handlecases involving excessive force orother allegations against law enforcementofficers. He offered free monthlyseminars for years at his office in themid-Wilshire area and helped establishthe Police Misconduct Lawyers ReferralService, which matched attorneys withpotential clients.According to colleagues, Manesroutinely took on cases with littleexpectation of success or remuneration,particularly in the early years whenfew people believed that police officerscould be guilty of misconduct.Manes is survived by two daughters,Mehgan and Nikol; three sons, Macabee,Ellery and Ari; a sister, AudreyBenesch; and eight grandchildren. □William Moffitt dies—“Empowering the voiceless”by Heidi BoghosianWilliam B. Moffitt died on April24, 2009, at the age of 60, after beinghospitalized for breathing difficulties.He fell into a coma and never regainedconsciousness. In 2000, Bill was thekeynote speaker at the Guild’s annualconvention in Boston, Massachusetts.Bill, along with NLG member LindaMoreno, served as defense attorneyfor Dr. Sami Al-Arian, negotiating aplea agreement with the governmentin 2006. Writing about Bill’s death,Dr. Al-Arian recalled how Bill visitedhim in his daughter’s apartment in aWashington suburb, where he was underhouse arrest. “He was still his old self,a maverick, who deeply cared aboutjustice and civil rights, the constitutionand empowering the voiceless.” Forover three years, from 2003-2006, Dr.Al-Arian was placed in solitary confinement,having no contact with anyoneexcept Bill Moffitt and Linda Moreno.Bill was a highly regarded criminaldefense attorney and a named partnerat the firm Asbill Moffitt & Boss inWashington, DC. He served as presidentof the National Association of CriminalDefense Lawyers from 1999-2000. Hehad been a member of the Board of▪ 26 ▪Directors of the ACLU and had alsoserved as president of the Virginia Collegeof Criminal Defense Lawyers, nowthe Virginia Association of CriminalDefense Lawyers, an NACDL affiliateorganization. He was a member ofthe bars of Virginia and the District ofColumbia, the Alexandria (Va.) BarAssociation, the American Board ofCriminal Lawyers, and the InternationalAssociation of Criminal Lawyers. Heserved as a criminal justice expert onnumerous media programs, including:Today Show, CNN’s Crossfire, ABCand CBS News. He is survived by hiswife, Edna, and daughter Pilar. □