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Alan Dershowitz to Speak to Students 

Alan M. Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and one of the most well-known criminal defense attorneys in the world, will speak in conversation with Dean Starr on Wednesday, Jan. 23, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in rooms D and E at the law school. The forum will explore issues of law and public policy and will include an opportunity for students to present questions.  

Dershowitz is a Brooklyn native and a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School. He joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg.

Dershowitz has published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal. More than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers. Dershowitz is the author of 27 fiction and nonfiction works with a worldwide audience. His most recent titles include Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace, Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence, Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways, Finding Jefferson - A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, and The First Amendment In An Age of Terrorism.

In addition to his numerous law review articles and books about criminal and constitutional law, he has written, taught, and lectured about history, philosophy, psychology, literature, mathematics, theology, music, sports, and even delicatessens.

In 1983, 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." In presenting the award, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said: "If there had been a few people like Alan Dershowitz during the 1930s and 1940s, the history of European Jewry might have been different." Dershowitz has been awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree by Yeshiva University, the Hebrew Union College, Brooklyn College, Syracuse University, and Haifa University.

For more information, contact the Dean's Office at (310) 506-4621.