Moxon & Kobrin
Encyclopedia
Moxon & Kobrin is a law firm with its headquarters located in the Wilshire Center Building in Wilshire Center, Los Angeles, California
, consisting of Kendrick Moxon
, Helena Kobrin, and Ava Paquette.
The firm is best known for being church staff and attorneys for the Church of Scientology
, working for the Religious Technology Center
, which controls the trademarks of Scientology
and the copyright
of the works of L. Ron Hubbard
.
holds a B.A.
in Anthropology
and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from George Mason University
. Before becoming Scientology's lead in-house attorney, he worked in the Church's Guardian's Office (subsequently usurped by the Office of Special Affairs
) under Mary Sue Hubbard
. During Operation Snow White
, in which eleven Scientologists pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court, Moxon was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator for providing false handwriting samples
to the FBI in response to a Grand Jury
subpoena
. According to the Phoenix New Times
, Moxon has stated that "he didn't knowingly supply false handwriting samples and that the stipulation of evidence was something signed by church officials but written by FBI agents. He says the matter was thoroughly investigated by two bar association
s – in D.C. and in California – before they admitted him as an attorney. Moxon is in good standing with the bar associations in both jurisdictions."
Helena Kempner Kobrin (born April 27, 1948) received her B.A.
at Hofstra University
and her J.D.
at Seton Hall University
. She was admitted to the bar in 1978, and at the California bar in 1991. She caused controversy on usenet
in the mid-1990s when she tried to get the newsgroup
alt.religion.scientology
shut down, and later e-mailed legal warnings to participants who had quoted as few as six lines of Scientology texts.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, consisting of Kendrick Moxon
Kendrick Moxon
Kendrick Lichty Moxon is a Scientology official and an attorney with the law firm Moxon & Kobrin. He practices in Los Angeles, California, and is a lead counsel for the Church of Scientology. Moxon received a B.A. from American University in 1972, and a J.D. degree from George Mason University in...
, Helena Kobrin, and Ava Paquette.
The firm is best known for being church staff and attorneys for the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
, working for the Religious Technology Center
Religious Technology Center
The Religious Technology Center is a Californian non-profit corporation. RTC was founded in 1982 by the Church of Scientology in order to control and oversee the use of all of the trademarks, symbols and texts of Scientology and Dianetics, including the copyrighted works of Scientology founder and...
, which controls the trademarks of Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...
and the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
of the works of L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...
.
History
Kendrick MoxonKendrick Moxon
Kendrick Lichty Moxon is a Scientology official and an attorney with the law firm Moxon & Kobrin. He practices in Los Angeles, California, and is a lead counsel for the Church of Scientology. Moxon received a B.A. from American University in 1972, and a J.D. degree from George Mason University in...
holds a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
. Before becoming Scientology's lead in-house attorney, he worked in the Church's Guardian's Office (subsequently usurped by the Office of Special Affairs
Office of Special Affairs
The Office of Special Affairs or OSA is a department of the Church of Scientology. According to the Church, the OSA is responsible for directing legal affairs, public relations, pursuing investigations, publicizing the Church's "social betterment works," and "oversee[ing its] social reform programs"...
) under Mary Sue Hubbard
Mary Sue Hubbard
Mary Sue Hubbard was the third wife of L. Ron Hubbard, from 1952 to his death in 1986, and was a leading figure in Scientology for much of her life...
. During Operation Snow White
Operation Snow White
Operation Snow White was the Church of Scientology's name for a conspiracy during the 1970s to purge unfavorable records about Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard...
, in which eleven Scientologists pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court, Moxon was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator for providing false handwriting samples
Handwriting exemplar
A handwriting exemplar is a piece of writing that can be examined forensically, as in a handwriting comparison. It is especially important to questioned document examination.-Use:...
to the FBI in response to a Grand Jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
subpoena
Subpoena
A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
. According to the Phoenix New Times
Phoenix New Times
The Phoenix New Times is a free, weekly Phoenix, Arizona newspaper, put out every Thursday. It is the founding publication of the New Times Media , but The Village Voice is now the flagship publication of that company....
, Moxon has stated that "he didn't knowingly supply false handwriting samples and that the stipulation of evidence was something signed by church officials but written by FBI agents. He says the matter was thoroughly investigated by two bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
s – in D.C. and in California – before they admitted him as an attorney. Moxon is in good standing with the bar associations in both jurisdictions."
Helena Kempner Kobrin (born April 27, 1948) received her B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
and her J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
at Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
. She was admitted to the bar in 1978, and at the California bar in 1991. She caused controversy on usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
in the mid-1990s when she tried to get the newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
alt.religion.scientology
Alt.religion.scientology
The newsgroup alt.religion.scientology is a Usenet newsgroup started in 1991 to discuss the controversial beliefs of Scientology, as well as the Church of Scientology, which claims exclusive intellectual property rights thereto and is viewed by many as a dangerous cult...
shut down, and later e-mailed legal warnings to participants who had quoted as few as six lines of Scientology texts.
Notable cases
- Frank Oliver, a former member of the Office of Special Affairs, alleged that he worked with Kendrick Moxon and others in a campaign against the Cult Awareness NetworkCult Awareness NetworkThe Cult Awareness Network was founded in the wake of the November 18, 1978 deaths of members of the group Peoples Temple and assassination of Congressman Leo J. Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana. CAN is now owned and operated by associates of the Church of Scientology, an organization that the original...
(CAN). Plaintiffs were recruited to participate in litigation which ultimately forced the CAN into bankruptcy. - In 2002 Moxon & Kobrin served notice to search engine GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, demanding that Operation ClambakeOperation ClambakeOperation Clambake, also referred to by its Web address, Xenu.net, is a Web site and Norway-based non-profit organization, launched in 1996, that publishes criticism of the Church of Scientology. It is owned and maintained by Andreas Heldal-Lund, who has stated that he supports the rights of all...
be removed from their search listings. They alleged that the site "contains literally hundreds of our clients' copyrighted works and federally registered trademarks." Among the specific Church documents they objected to xenu.net'sOperation ClambakeOperation Clambake, also referred to by its Web address, Xenu.net, is a Web site and Norway-based non-profit organization, launched in 1996, that publishes criticism of the Church of Scientology. It is owned and maintained by Andreas Heldal-Lund, who has stated that he supports the rights of all...
coverage of were those dealing with Dead Agenting, Fair GameFair Game (Scientology)The term Fair Game is used to describe policies and practices carried out by the Church of Scientology towards people and groups it perceives as its enemies. Founder L. Ron Hubbard established the policy in the 1960s, in response to criticism both from within and outside his organization...
, Security Check Children, XenuXenuXenu ,also spelled Xemu, was, according to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs...
, HelatrobusHelatrobusAccording to Church of Scientology doctrine, Helatrobus was an "interplanetary nation", now extinct, which existed trillions of years ago.-Government:In his State of OT lecture, Scientology founder L...
, and various other Scientology Space OperaSpace opera in Scientology doctrineScientology founder L. Ron Hubbard used the science fiction term space opera to describe what he said were actual extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in past lives...
doctrines of ancient alien civilizations. Google temporarily complied but eventually restored most of xenu.net's pages back to their results.
See also
- Scientology versus the InternetScientology versus the Internet"Scientology versus the Internet" refers to a number of disputes relating to the Church of Scientology's efforts to suppress material critical of Scientology on the Internet through the use of lawsuits and legal threats. In late 1994, the Church of Scientology began using various legal tactics to...
- Scientology and the legal systemScientology and the legal systemThe Church of Scientology has been involved in court disputes in several countries. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, question has been raised as to its motives. The Church says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right...