2 L.A. Lawyers Selected for Justice Posts

The head of the Los Angeles Police Commission, one of two Los Angeles lawyers chosen Thursday to fill high Justice Department posts, said that he hopes to draw upon his experiences on the local board to give the federal government insights into the workings of police departments around the country.

Raymond C. Fisher said that as president of the civilian panel that sets policy for the Los Angeles Police Department, he has become particularly knowledgeable about community policing techniques, as well as racial tensions within departments.

President Clinton’s nomination of Fisher, 57, would make him the No. 3 official in the Justice Department, succeeding John Schmidt, who resigned five months ago.

The second Los Angeles lawyer tabbed by Clinton on Thursday is Bill Lann Lee, 48, who would be the first Asian American to head Justice’s civil rights division. Lee, the son of Chinese immigrants, would fill a position vacant since last January, when Deval Patrick returned to private law practice.

Both appointees must be confirmed by the Senate.

Lee, the western regional director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, is regarded as one of the most experienced civil rights lawyers in the nation. Theodore Shaw, associate director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, said that African Americans have praised Lee for his “broad sensitivity” to racial issues.

According to administration sources, his appointment is symbolic of growing recognition that the nation’s racial dynamics are increasingly diverse.

Fisher, in his job, would oversee the civil, tax and environmental divisions, as well as Lee’s civil rights division.

Both men have been actively involved in efforts to eliminate racial and gender discrimination in the LAPD, although they have differed somewhat on methods.

Lee, for instance, has backed a proposed consent decree that would settle a class-action lawsuit filed by 12 LAPD employees alleging that women are subject to pervasive harassment and discrimination.

But Fisher has expressed reservations about terms of the proposed settlement, which would establish recruiting and hiring goals for women and minorities and would strip the Police Department of the power to investigate claims of discrimination internally.

Fisher has questioned the estimated $28-million cost of implementing the plan and said that it could make it more difficult for the department to manage itself.

Fisher served as deputy general counsel in 1991 to a citizens commission that proposed sweeping reforms of the LAPD after the beating of black motorist Rodney G. King. Mayor Richard Riordan appointed him to the police commission in 1995, and he was elected its president last year.

Most recently, Fisher guided the commission in its successful ouster of controversial Police Chief Willie Williams. A search for a new chief is underway.

Associates said that Lee has spent much of his career working on cases that involve African Americans, but also has litigated matters related to Asian Americans, Latinos and women. Lee said that he was inspired to become a civil rights lawyer by his father, who suffered discrimination for years--even after serving in the Army--in operating a hand-wash laundry in Harlem.

The Legal Defense Fund has supported court challenges to Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action measure approved by California voters last November. The Clinton administration has taken a similar position in opposing the measure.