Alan Morton Dershowitz was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938. His mother Claire and father Harry were both devout orthodox Jews. Adhering to the orthodox Jewish faith, Dershowitz went to Yeshiva University High School. He was a rebellious student, barely making it into college. However, college life agreed with him, and he got outstanding grades at Brooklyn College. He graduated in 1959 and was accepted into Yale Law School. While there, he rose to the very top of his class and served as editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated in 1962.
When Dershowitz sought employment immediately after school, thirty-two Wall Street law firms rejected him, despite his excellent academics, due to his Jewish heritage. Not daunted by this blatant anti-Semitism, he continued his job search, ending up as a law clerk for Judge David Bazelon, U.S. Court of Appeals, and later for Justice Arthur Goldberg of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1964, he was hired as an assistant professor of law at Harvard University Law School. In 1967, at 28, he was promoted to full professor. He was the youngest full professor in the history of the law school. His specializations were criminal law, psychiatry and the law, and constitutional litigation. His research areas were First Amendment rights, criminal law, and Jewish law.
Dershowitz married and had two sons, Elon and Jamin, by his first wife. In 1972, Elon was stricken by a rare brain tumor and nearly died. Dershowitz's efforts to save his child marked a turning point in his life. This event made him realize that an individual life is precious and finite. He awoke to the world outside academia. Taking stock of his own life, he divorced his wife and launched a career in the litigation practice of criminal law while continuing on as a full time professor.
His first criminal trial, one he remembered as strategically satisfying, was a victory of sorts. A man from his old neighborhood, a member of the Jewish Defense League, had been indicted for felony murder. The man had placed a bomb in an office building intending to cause damage but accidentally killing an employee as well. The police had offered a plea bargain to the man, whereby they agreed not to prosecute him if he helped convict other members of his group. After receiving a full confession, the police refused to uphold their end of the deal. The defendant retained Dershowitz, and they went to trial. Dershowitz was able to cleverly insinuate during the trial that the plea bargain had been tape-recorded. A police officer finally admitted they lied and told the truth: there had been an agreement not to prosecute the defendant. The jury acquitted the defendant. The police were furious. Dershowitz stated that while he took no personal pleasure in the victory, it was a victory for the Bill of Rights.
This type of case typified Dershowitz's career. He was once quoted as saying that he would represent "a worthless son of a bitch on the way to hell" if it supported his sense of justice. Stubbornly principled, and opposed to any form of tyranny, he had three criteria for taking a case. The case must provide an opportunity to achieve something other lawyers were unable to perform, it must offer a chance to shape the law in a significant manner, and it must provide material useful in his teaching career.
From 1967 to 1986, Dershowitz argued on behalf of eleven clients before the U.S. Supreme Court. His clients represent a veritable "who's who" of celebrities, among them Patricia Hearst, Leona Helmsley, Jim Baker, porn star Harry Reems, Penthouse magazine, and even fellow lawyer F. Lee Bailey. Despite his strong Jewish faith, Dershowitz even defended the American Nazi Party in 1977 and argued for their First Amendment right to march in Illinois. As a civil libertarian, he felt it was his duty to uphold the constitutional right of free speech and peaceful demonstration. Dershowitz was a part of the O.J. Simpson "Dream Team" hired by Simpson, at the request of head attorney Robert Shapiro. His main assignment was to prepare for the appellate case in the event of a conviction. While never actually stating his personal belief as to Simpson's guilt or innocence, Dershowitz suggested in interviews that in his opinion the right verdict was reached based on the evidence presented.
Dershowitz wrote a book on the Simpson trial called Reasonable Doubts. He has also written 14 other books, including Reversal of Fortune, based on the Claus von Bulow trials, and Chutzpah, his autobiography that also deals with the integration of Jews into American society. Declaring writing as his favorite occupation, Dershowitz has written hundreds of articles for over 50 U.S. daily newspapers, magazines and journals including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harvard Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal.
The roles of professor, author, and world renowned criminal attorney were not enough for Dershowitz. He served as a legal consultant on criminal law to China, as a member of the President's Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, as a member of the President's Commission on Civil Disorders, as a member of the President's Commission on Causes and Prevention of Crime, and he was the director of the National Institute of Mental Health. He was awarded honorary doctorate law degrees from Yeshiva University, The Hebrew Union College, Monmouth College, and Haifa University. The New York Bar honored him, and the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith presented him with the William O. Douglas First Amendment Award for his "compassionate, eloquent leadership and persistent advocacy in the struggle for civil and human rights."
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