By: Alan M. Dershowitz Publisher: Vintage Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vintage Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 464 Publication Date: May 12, 1983 Release Date: May 12, 1983
Product Description: The author presents his most famous, and infamous, cases and clients, and in the process, takes a critical, informed look at a legal system that he regards as deeply corrupt.
A Lawyer of Last Resort Brookly born, Dershowitz graduated from Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, clerked for Federal Judge David Bazelon and Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg. He became a full professor at Harvard Law School at 28. The 'Introduction' presents his outlook on the justice system. His beliefs in the legal system were shattered by his first real-world case as a defense attorney in 1972 (p.xiv). Dershowitz likes to pick the most challenging, the most difficult, and the most precedent-setting cases; he is a law professor (p.xv). Dershowitz is primarily an appellate lawyer, a lawyer of last resort that appeals a guilty verdict. Lawyers believe in winning their case, for or against a defendant. Judges also play sides to convict a defendant they believe is guilty (p.xvii).
Chapter 1 tells of his life and the defense of a terrorist who set off a bomb that killed. The experience changed his life, exposed him to threats of disbarment and physical violence (p.17). Dershowitz learned what they didn't teach in law school. What if there was an undercover agent in this group? Could an informer trust the government (p.29)? These terrorists had deadly plans (p.35). What if the informer secretly recorded his conversations with the police? This case provided a superb teaching tool about the limits of government intervention in preventing crime (p.79). Informers have always been used by governments to control associations. Is a man guilty of murder if he shoots a dead person? Chapter 2 argues "no".
One case "provoked more intense and personal attacks" than any other (Chapter 3). Can the corporate media turn a hero into a villain? [Was this due to commercial rivalry?] Chapter 4 is about an obscenity trial. "There can never be objective standards of obscenity" (p.163). Is all pornography connected to organized crime (p.189)? Do people have a First Amendment right to go nude in public (Chapter 5)? The Vietnam War saw many attacks on First Amendment freedoms. Dershowitz was involved in several important cases (Chapter 6). One involved the firing of a Stanford professor, the other was a CIA employee whose book wasn't censored (p.208). The Snepp decision was an example of law by judicial proclamation (p.231) Dershowitz worked to free people in the Soviet Union (Chapter 7). Can the arrest of an innocent become a crime (Chapter 8)?
Chapter 9 has a true crime story that seems too fantastic for a movie. Dershowitz doesn't explain his opposition to capital punishment (p.305). [Is it his emotions?] Was something censored on the bottom of page 356? Chapter 10 is the most important as it reveals corruption in the US Attorney's office in getting a conviction against a defense lawyer who was very successful. Would a judge violate ethics to cover up a crime (p.365)? Are you shocked by the decision to not prosecute (p.367)? Would three judges on an appeal court make a false statement (p.374)? All appeals failed (p.375). Do "prosecutors suborn perjury every day" (p.376)? The `Epilogue' reveals what has been going on (p.381). "It is worse in many other prosecutor's offices" (p.383). Is there an "occupational disease" for defense lawyers (Chapter 11)? Dershowitz tells about the criminal lawyers he has represented in his practice. F. Lee Bailey's success is explained (p.386). Bailey defended Patricia Hearst, Dershowitz helped (p.392). You will learn a lot of facts that will never be shown on television! Those "Perry Mason" stratagems represent older and obsolete practices (p.409). [Earl Rogers once used a substitute to question the identification of his defendant.] A defense lawyer is the final barrier between a citizen and the government (pp.415-416). This book tells about events that you will rarely see on broadcast TV dramas.
His Best; A Riveting and Important Book Dershowitz has become a highly controversial writer and personality for a number of reasons: he has taken on unpopular cases, he has an enormous ego, and he is an opinionated iconoclast unafraid to offer his views on Judaism, the Middle East and other political issues with the same sense of total certainty as he does when it comes to his true area of expertise: constituional law.
All of that aside, he is a true legal scholar, and a great story teller (or at least he was when this book was written) and this is almost certainly his very best book. Compelling, almost riveting, Dershowitz makes the case for civil rights and constitutional defense as well ashe does anywhere else, but here he also tells a story leavened by a partial memoir of growing up orthodox in Boro Park Brooklyn in the 1960s.
This is a great book, not to be missed.
Poor book The writer maybe a good lawyer but the story telling is not his best way to make a living.
A great read for both lawyers and lay people Dershowitz is a great writer. Love him or hate him, you can't deny this man's writing ability. His style is relatively informal, avoiding overly-intelectual language and instead opting to use plain language. This style allows the reader to focus on the content and ideas behind text, rather than constantly look words up in the dictionary. In this book, Dershowitz retells some of the more gripping cases he's been involved in. The book is partly crime novel, taking the reader thru the case step by step. The book is partly theoretical, using the cases to instruct on the way the legal system should or does work. I recommend the book highly for the law student, lawyer, and lay person as it will instruct you to how the criminal justice system really is.
engaging, insightful, personal, educational this book succeeds on many levels and as such should appeal to many readers:
1. as an explanation for how our judicial system is setup and operates; 2. putting a face and personal touch behind many famous (porn star harry reams, prince of the city robert leuci, etc. etc.) and less famous, but just as interesting, trials; 3. as a series of engaging human interest stories; 4. as a chronicle of the early careers of now wildly famous people like, for example, rudy guiliani who appears as a young prosecutor in the case involving robert leuci.
this book was written at a time when dershowitz was more focused on trials as opposed to politics, so it reads without the over tones of his later works. this will be good for readers that don't agree with his politics and it's a refreshing change during this time where there are so many books that carry a political agenda.
each chapter averages about 20 pages and discusses a different case. so you can read one a night or a polish off a few while travelling. dershowitz' delivery is completely candid about the the conversations and people involved in each case. i was continually surprised about the intimate details revealed for each case.
i think this book will have great appeal to readers of spy-thrillers because they will be entertained by the stories, plot twists and uncertain endings (dershowitz discusses cases in which he won and lost), while at the same time discovering many realities of our courts and beyond.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
