Summary: Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz denies allegations he sexually victimized a minor, and seeks to disbar the lawyers that represent her.
Alan Dershowitz has been accused of sharing in on the grand-scale sexual exploitation of alleged victim Jane Doe #3, and he isn’t taking that lightly. The woman, who has been identified as Virginia Roberts, and who is now 30 years old, is claiming, through her lawyers, and also a sensational memoir, that not only did the famed American lawyer sexually abuse her while she was an underage teenager, but so did the Duke of York, and all this through the influence of convicted sex offender billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who, it is claimed, arranged the whole thing.
Dershowitz, 76, defended Epstein when he stood trial for sexual trafficking. He has subsequently got gummed up in the claims and allegations doled out through Roberts’ book, and he is furious, calling the claims “absolutely ridiculous,” and further stating, with categorical aplomb, “I don’t even know who she is. I’ve never seen her. I’ve never met her. I don’t know who she is.”
Dershowitz, who has represented such high-profile clients as OJ Simpson, is therefore seeking to challenge Ms Roberts’s lawyers, Brad Edwards and Paul Cassel. “My goal is to bring charges against the client and require her to speak in court. If she believes she has been hurt by me and Prince Andrew, she should be suing for damages.
“I welcome that lawsuit. I welcome any opportunity that would put her under oath and require her to state under oath these false accusations.”
More than that, he would see her two lawyers disbarred – which may amount more to a vow of frustration on his part, rather than an achievable agenda. After all, even if the two lawyers knew the allegations were false, they would likely not be disbarred. Meanwhile, they claim they have considered the case and believe her, and “without a strong reason to question [her, that] would be sufficient,” for them to represent her, as Amy Mashburn, a professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, as Reuters reported.
“Being false alone is not enough,” said professor at NYU School of Law Stephen Gillers. “What a disciplinary committee would have to show is that they either knew the allegations were false, or they were reckless in making the charge.”
So getting the two lawyers disbarred would be a plight even Dershowitz could not accomplish, especially considering neither of them has faced any public discipline for over a decade, if at all.
In short, Dershowitz, who is rightly mollified by what he sees as careless allegations from a stranger, may not be able to fit the issue in his area of control, the court.
Buckingham palace, for their part, has also denied Prince Andrew did this woman any wrong.