TRAITOR or PATRIOT? at North Coast Repertory Theatre

A FREE READING by Judge H. Lee Sarokin

Two friends (government employees) take opposite views about disclosing corruption that they discover during the course of their work. The dispute causes a rift between the two friends and their families, and the play asks which of the two is the hero or villain and whether leakers of classified information are traitors or patriots.

Judge H. Lee Sarokin (retired) is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, After a 25 year career as a trial lawyer, he was appointed to the U. S. District Court by President Carter and elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals (3rd Cir.) by President Clinton. He freed Rubin “Hurricane” Carter after 19 years in prison for a wrongful conviction (made into a movie -The Hurricane). Among his over 2000 written opinions, he was the first judge to order tobacco companies to reveal their secret research and to order clubs such as Kiwanis to admit women. Since retirement he served 5 years as Distinguished Jurist in Residence at USD Law School, received numerous awards and honors for his judicial career, provides mediation, arbitration and expert witness services, is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, has authored 7 plays and numerous law review articles, tutored at Casa de Amistad where he started a music program for the Hispanic students, taught at the Braille Institute and plays drums with jazz groups. He resides in La Jolla with his wife Margie.