Although best known for his central role on the O.J. Simpson defense team, famed attorney Johnnie Cochran barely touched on "the trial of the century" in his address yesterday at the Institute of Politics' (IOP) ARCO Forum.

Instead, Cochran spoke mostly about another client, Black Panther Geronimo Pratt, who after a twenty-year legal battle was recently acquitted of a murder charge.

"Most of the time I represent not the O.J.'s, not the famous people," Cochran said. "I represent the no-J's. The people you've never heard of."

Cochran was introduced to the packed audience by Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree,.

Ogletree described Cochran as "a marvel of excellent lawyering," a man whose work against police brutality prior to the celebrity of the Simpson case, receives little attention.

It was this more pro-active, political-minded aspect of Cochran that was on display throughout his talk, which was titled "Finding Justice Within the Criminal Justice System."

Although his address focused on larger issues of law and justice--particularly the death penalty--Cochran spoke in most depth of the relationship of race and the law.

He referred numerous times to the 25-year-old Kerner Commission's Report on Race, which suggested that the U.S. was rapidly dividing into two separate nations--one white and one black.

In addition, Cochran said two systems of law often exist.

"An African-American between the age of 20 and 25, is more five times more likely to be murdered...than go to the University of California," he said.

Cochran insisted that there is not only "a peephole in the blindfold of lady justice," but that discrepancies in the law are heavily related to issues of race and class.

Oftentimes minorities do not receive equal treatment under the law, Cochran said.

"If 40 percent of young white men were in prison something would be done about it," he said.

Cochran is currently on the team of lawyers representing Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in a law suit against the New York City Police Department.

Along with Louima, O.J. Simpson, and Geronimo Pratt, Cochran has also represented basketball player Latrell Sprewell and truck driver Reginald Denny, whose beating during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots became a symbol of the historic incident.

Cochran said he finds controversial andemotionally-charged cases like Denny's mostcompelling.