BHCOURIER/5/29/03 CONNIE MARTINSON TALKS BOOKS There's a new power house in town. Welcome to Rikki Klieman, author of "Fairy Tales Can Come True: How A Driven Woman changed Her Destiny" (Regan Books Harper Collins $25.95). If you haven't watched Court TV, or watched the news about Los Angeles' new Chief of Police Bill Bratton, you may have missed her; but not for long. Her book is terrific, it could have been a Sidney Sheldon novel. Rikki was born in Chicago. An only child, her first interest was acting. She was graduated from Northwestern, went to New York to pursue a career in theatre, that is until she started to do the rounds and saw how many people were out of work. Her college professor recommended she apply to law school. She was accepted by Boston University Law School. At Law School, she met and married her first husband, Alex Wesman, who will later give her away in her third marriage to Bill Bratton. Meanwhile before that, she did very well in Law School and Moot Court which got her the introduction to Judge Skinner of the Federal Court for whom she clerked. From there she wanted to work in the District Attorney's office. During this period, her path crossed with George Higgins, F.Lee Bailey, John Kerry among many other legal experts. Rikki was a most attractive woman around Boston and she describes her life in detail. As an only child , Rikki was very close to her father, for whom she gave the eulogy at his funeral, and to her mother who did not always approve of her life style. No matter who or what at this point in time. Rikki's attention never wavered from her career in law. She was very good at what she did and as she won more and more cases, she was invited to speak at Trial Lawyers Seminars and Women Lawyers Dinners and Events. Time Magazine named her one of the five outstanding women trial lawyers. When we taped I told her that her book would do for young women and men what Louis Nizer's "My Life In Court" did forty years ago, exciting them to go into a career in law. Apart from her personal story, Rikki describes the formula for successful depositions, summations, and how to present your client to the jury. In 1984 when the Beacon Hill "white shoe" firm turned her down to become a partner, she joined Joel Kozel's law firm . It was a 24/7 life with calls in the middle of the night, it was exciting but even glamour girls with bad backs get tired. Rikki had such a bad back that she flew to Canada for a very experimental back operation. One of her famous cases was bringing in Katherine Ann Power, which brought her to the attention of Boston's new Chief of Police, Bill Bratton. Nothing happened between them for quite a few years. In between would be a second marriage and O.J. Simpson. Yes, that same O.J. Steve Brill, the founder of Court TV called and asked her if she would be interested in covering the Simpson Trial? Can a small town, Chicago, girl who always wanted to be an actress say, "No" to that offer? No way. From that experience, she was offered a job with Court TV which led to Cochran and Company. She was the "company" to Johnnie Cochran. They seem to have a mutual admiration society. All of this led to her bumping into Bill Bratton at breakfast in New York City, their subsequent love affair and marriage. And the decision to follow Bill to Los Angeles. Rikki is up front about being in her fifties, and her choice to follow Bill where ever it might lead. At a book party at the Talmadge Estate, he introduced her with great love and respect. Boston and New York's loss is definitely Los Angeles' gain. And as much as I have told you about her book, there is so much more, especially about her handling of court cases.