Gloria Allred. Photo Credit: Lizzy McLellan/ALM

Gloria Allred, the iconic lawyer who has lately appeared of behalf of women accusing Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, is in New York this week to receive this year's Lenore Kramer Award for Excellence from the New York State Trial Lawyers Association's Women's Caucus.

It's an especially busy time for Allred, who is the focus of a new Netflix film documenting her legal career and advocacy for women's rights. While giving interviews for the documentary, Allred has been traveling the country for various cases and overseeing high-profile matters, such as representing Summer Zervos in a defamation suit in Manhattan Supreme Court against President Donald Trump.

Allred, 76, a partner of Los Angeles firm Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, discussed what role she plays in her firm's cases, how she bills—she said she doesn't charge for press conferences—and what the recent wave of high-profile sexual harassment accusations nationwide has meant for her practice.

How have you managed to balance the practice of law with the media attention from your cases and the new film?

I'm organized, and I have a great team at my law firm and elsewhere, and so it's all about priorities. But I'm working all the time, as everyone in my law firm would tell you: Saturdays, Sundays, holidays. If I'm not sleeping or if I'm not on a plane without internet, then I'm working, with a rare exception.

I'm privileged and blessed to be a lawyer, to have become a woman lawyer in a time when women are still being denied their rights under the law. And so I have a duty to pass it on, to help victims of injustice, many of whom are women.

Has the #MeToo movement brought more cases to your firm?

We've always been busy. We've been the leading women's rights law firm for 42 years. Definitely we're getting more emails and phone calls, and especially about well-known men whose names are not yet in the news—maybe never will be, maybe they will. Powerful men who are alleged to have raped, or sexually assaulted or sexually harassed the individuals who are calling us. Some of those men are powerful figures in the entertainment industry, some are high-level in the business community, some are sports figures, some are political figures.

Are there also law firm partners who are being accused?

We are and have been representing lawyers who are making accusations of sex discrimination and retaliation against partners and retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.

Do you see your role as being more of a public advocate for your clients, rather than in the courtroom arguing motions and writing pleadings? How much of your practice is devoted to motions, and court appearances, or do you advise more on strategy?

I'm very involved in many, many cases in our law firm, and essentially my role is whatever is needed. If I can bring value to a particular case and maximize the results, then that's what I'm going to do.

Strategy is certainly very important. I'm involved in many, many confidential settlements—I've done many of them here in New York. A number of the mediators at JAMS, for example, and elsewhere are quite familiar with me.

I am traveling the country constantly and also working with co-counsel in many other states and doing what I can do to help. It's not a limited role. My two founding partners, Michael Maroko and Nathan Goldberg, they've trusted me for 42 years that we've been practicing law. They trust me to do what I think is important to be done.

Does Allred, Maroko & Goldberg handle mainly celebrity cases?

Most do not involve celebrity cases. Our main focus is sexual harassment in employment cases, victims of sexual harassment in employment—also sex discrimination in employment, race, age, physical handicap, sexual orientation discrimination, AIDS discrimination, wrongful termination. We also do civil rape cases, civil sexual abuse, sexual assault.

Can you shed light on your firm's fee structures? Are all the cases contingency? If so, do you obtain a 30 to 40 percent share? Are some cases done on a billable hour?

Some are limited contingencies—in other words, some fee and the remainder on the contingency. Some are hourly, but I would say most are a straight contingency. Most of the people we represent do not have any financial ability to hire a lawyer, and so they need to have a contingency if they're going to have any access to justice, and we recognize that.

[The fee] really depends on the case and the client and, of course, also the law. In some places, we are only permitted to charge a third, and in some cases, we are permitted to charge 40 percent, it really depends. Obviously, it's always negotiable with the client or prospective client.

And how do you earn fees on cases that never go to court or settle, but in which you hold press conferences? Do you take fees in every matter?

No, I wouldn't charge a client to do a press conference. But I only do them in very few cases, relatively speaking, to our caseload.

Some cases are pro bono. I'm not going to say which ones. It really depends on the case, and we've done pro bono cases from the start. We did it even when we couldn't afford it when we began our law practice 42 years ago, because we made a decision that if we would wait until we felt we could afford it, we might think we could never afford it. We decided we should do the right thing from the beginning, and just continue to do it. That's part of our duty as lawyers.

Can you discuss your law firm's revenue and partner profits?

We have a number of partners, [and] there are only three senior partners. Let's put it this way: We are doing well, and we believe if we do good, we will do well, and we believe we have been doing good for 42 years. I'm very blessed to have the same two founding partners with me for 42 years.

I will say one last thing: The Lenore Kramer Award, I am just so honored to be receiving it and thrilled, and I love New York women lawyers. The male lawyers are good too.

But there are so many more women lawyers than when I began to practice law 42 years ago, all over the country. This is good—the profession is being integrated—but we still have a long way to go for women lawyers as well. We need more women lawyers to be partners of law firms, and we need more women lawyers to get the compensation they deserve, the title they deserve and the responsibility they deserve.

All interviews are condensed and edited for style, grammar and clarity.