Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz hanging out the porch of the Chilmark General Store in the Martha’s Vineyard town of Chilmark, Mass. (Anthony Weiss\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m now busier than ever,\u201d he told JTA. \u201cWhen I was teaching at Harvard, there were limits on how many cases I could take. Now there are no limits. I have no excuses. So I\u2019m involved in some of the most exciting cases in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n
These days, Dershowitz\u2019s practice takes him around the globe as he consults on high-profile international legal issues, such as the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan and a case stemming from April\u2019s deadly ferry disaster in South Korea.<\/p>\n
Dershowitz says he has another six books he is writing or plans to write, including one provisionally titled \u201cAbraham: The World\u2019s First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer.\u201d He is working on an opera about the Polish Cantor Gershon Sirota based on Jewish liturgical music.<\/p>\n
He wants to create an organization to serve as an alternative to J Street, the dovish Israel policy group with which he has frequently clashed. Dershowitz says his group would seek \u201ca reasonable resolution\u201d to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict \u201cwith compromise, but without any compromise to Israel\u2019s security.”<\/p>\n
Dershowitz also continues to churn out opinion articles at an astonishing pace, many of them focused on Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always have 10 ideas in my head,\u201d he said. \u201cI wake up every morning having to write a column or an article or a chapter of a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Above all, Dershowitz loves to be a part of the action.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy theory about writing books is every book is a first draft for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t obsess about them. If there are mistakes in them, I\u2019ll correct them in the next edition. I want to get them out. I want my ideas out there. Life\u2019s short. I want to have as much impact as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the same token, Dershowitz professes to have few regrets about the life he has lived so far — a couple of columns he wishes he could take back, the occasional client who wasn\u2019t worth the headache, but nothing significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a looker-backer,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t tend to look back and regret. I\u2019ve had wonderful children, I have a wonderful marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dershowitz is also proud of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never done anything for money, which was really important for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve earned a lot of money doing things I wanted to do and that I would have done even if I hadn\u2019t earned the money doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that currently 60 percent of his work is pro bono.<\/p>\n
Dershowitz wrote his recent memoir, \u201cTaking the Stand,\u201d not as a kind of valedictory but to clarify what he thought were a few misconceptions about him. One was the view that he is a right-wing Republican neoconservative, not the pro-Israel liberal Democrat that Dershowitz considers himself to be.<\/p>\n
Another thing he wanted to set straight is that there are, in fact, two Alan Dershowitzes: the hard-charging, sharp-elbowed \u201cDersh” character that people see on TV (and, he acknowledges, frequently dislike) and the affable, good-natured man known to his friends and family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a pushover when it comes to friends. I never say no, I\u2019m easy to get along with,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople on the Vineyard don\u2019t recognize the guy they see on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the transition from Alan to the Dersh can be lightning fast: Conducting a phone interview on Geraldo Rivera\u2019s radio show, one moment Dershowitz is gazing peacefully out his window at the treetops of Martha\u2019s Vineyard with his hand in his pocket, the next he is pacing back and forth, pumping his fist as he argues with Rivera.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re encouraging Hamas to do what they\u2019re doing and kill babies, that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing,\u201d he shouts into the phone.<\/p>\n
After Dershowitz signs off, he gives an excited \u201cWhoo!\u201d In a few moments, he has regained his previous calm.<\/p>\n
Dershowitz says he is at peace with his combative nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife thinks I spend too much time fighting against my enemies,\u201d he said. \u201cBut as I tell my students, don\u2019t try to be something you\u2019re not. That\u2019s part of my personality, that\u2019s who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis is my Brooklyn coming-out — if you mess with me, you\u2019re going to have to pay a consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dershowitz now plans to split his time between his native New York, Miami Beach and his summer house on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, where the decor reflects his idiosyncratic blend of ego and unpretentiousness, flamboyance and humor.<\/p>\n
The walls are covered with photographs of Dershowitz with luminaries like Shimon Peres and Barack Obama alongside images of casual family outings, as well as taped-up newspaper clippings, Roy Lichtenstein art, an old Harlem Globetrotters poster, Jewish memorabilia and maritime-themed tchotchkes.<\/p>\n
In the bathroom is what Dershowitz calls his \u201crogues gallery,\u201d featuring photos and mugshots of famous and infamous individuals, many of whom he has defended. Prominent among them is O.J. Simpson, on whose legal dream team Dershowitz served. Dershowitz says the ex-football star and actor stiffed him on a sizable portion of the legal bills.<\/p>\n
Dershowitz leads an active social live on Martha’s Vineyard, moving in high-profile circles.
Dershowitz often goes to multiple parties in a night, and for the particular day on which he received JTA, he was planning to play poker with a group of friends that included comedian Larry David.<\/p>\n
Dershowitz is also devoted to his routine of a standing noon lunch date on the front porch of the Chilmark General Store. It’s there that he is at his least Dersh, kibitzing with a group of mostly Jewish, mostly older regulars, trading news, gossip and jokes.<\/p>\n
Upon hearing that a reporter is present, the friends immediately crack that now they will finally spill the truth about Dershowitz — and then lapse into effusive praise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing people don\u2019t know about Alan is what a mensch he is,\u201d gushed Sharon Bialy, a front porch regular and a prominent Hollywood casting director. \u201cHe is so nice, and he is so kind to all the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dershowitz estimates — or at least, he says, hopes — that he has another 10 productive years ahead of him. Once he hits 85, he adds, he will be ready for a more sedate type of retirement.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, though, he prefers to remain in the mix while there are still good arguments to be had. In his typology of Jewish lawyers from his upcoming book on Abraham, Dershowitz said, \u201cClearly I\u2019m the guy who argues with God. For me, the higher the authority, the more I like to argue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just critical of everybody and everything,\u201d he said, a touch of Dersh coming out. Then he added, \u201cThere\u2019s nobody with whom I completely agree, including myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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