Alan Dershowitz on the Defense (His Own)
By BARRY MEIER
The New York Times
DEC. 12, 2015
http://nyti.ms/1MqZzKw

[snip]

A decade ago, he (Dershowitz) had defended a friend, a money manager named Jeffrey E. Epstein, after authorities in Palm Beach, Fla., found evidence indicating that he was paying underage girls to give him sexual massages. The lawyer led a scorched-earth attack on the girls and, with a team of high-priced lawyers, cut a plea deal for Mr. Epstein that the local police said was too lenient.

Over a five-decade career, Mr. Dershowitz has represented some of America’s most prominent criminal defendants, including O. J. Simpson, Leona Helmsley, Mike Tyson and Claus von Bulow. Now, he finds himself on the other side, in a legal battle to clear his own name. At 77, he is struggling to absorb a bitter lesson — that choosing the wrong client can exact its own cost.

Last December, as part of a filing in an ongoing lawsuit, a woman charged that Mr. Dershowitz had sex with her when she was underage. Mr. Dershowitz called the claim an “outrageous lie” and over the last year has faced fallout from the accusation.

“This is very serious,” Mr. Dershowitz said last month at his apartment in Manhattan. “It involves my life, my legacy, my career, my history, my reputation.”