Brownstein: Montreal filmmaker enters the world of attorney Dershowitz

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“He would have represented Hitler,” one of his many critics claims.

“He delights in picking the cases everyone hates,” notes another skeptic.

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They are referring to American defence attorney Alan Dershowitz, arguably the most famous/infamous lawyer of his generation and, without doubt, among the most confounding and controversial.

Once lionized as a brilliant and ferocious litigator for taking on Pentagon Papers-leaker Daniel Ellsberg, among other high-profile cases, and for defending — pro bono — cases for the down and out, Dershowitz later shocked many by pleading for the well-heeled likes of Claus von Bülow and Mike Tyson. He shocked many more by helping represent O.J. Simpson in one of the most divisive and most watched murder trials of the last half-century.

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He also didn’t do himself any favours in defending Jeffrey Epstein. And his reputation got even further tarnished when Virginia Giuffre initially accused Dershowitz of having sex with her when she was underage. Giuffre, Prince Andrew’s chief accuser, later dropped her lawsuit against Dershowitz, saying she may have been wrong in accusing him. He denied having ever met her, let alone having sex with her.

But Dershowitz was to become truly vilified in many circles, including among his closest friends, for taking on one of the impeachment cases against Donald Trump in spite of the fact he didn’t vote for him.

Montreal filmmaker John Curtin spent 10 years following the life and complex career of Dershowitz. He emerged with over 2,000 hours of interview footage  and clips with Dershowitz as well as with defence attorneys Gloria Allred and Ron Kuby, boxer/client Tyson, TV personality Megyn Kelly and even Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm curmudgeon/creator Larry David.

The resulting documentary, The Trials of Alan Dershowitz, is nothing if not forthcoming. Nobody holds back with Curtin here, neither Dershowitz nor all the others he has interviewed. The doc will certainly shock, but it will also rivet audiences in light of the who’s who of clients Dershowitz has represented.

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The movie has its Canadian première April 25 as part of the Blue Metropolis festival, at Concordia’s downtown DeSève Cinema.

Dershowitz doesn’t attempt to defend himself in the doc. Showing no remorse for handling some contentious cases, he simply seeks to explain his choices.

Curtin includes a selection of clips in which Dershowitz calls himself “a defender for the damned. … I thrive on taking on cases where people say these are the worst people in the world.”

More than thrive, he appears to delight in it. “My job as a defence lawyer is not to see that justice is done,” he says. “My role is to take on the most unpopular and even the most guilty of clients.” He equates his work to that of an emergency-room doctor who deals with a patient regardless of who they may be.

Dershowitz, now 85, is also unperturbed by how the public perceives him. “People write me all the time and say, ‘I used to admire you, but now I despise you.’ And I always have the same response: ‘You were wrong to admire me. You didn’t know who I was.’”

This is not to suggest Dershowitz believed all his clients were innocent, only that they deserved a defence. Nor did he like them all. In fact, he ‘fesses up that he wished some “would get hit by a bus.”

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Many friends had managed to stand by Dershowitz, no matter how despicable they found some of his clients. But they drew the line at Trump. Kuby, Dershowitz’s lawyer buddy, was shocked: “Donald Trump? This is not who you used to be.” And longtime crony David, who once glowingly spoke of his love for fellow “polarizer” Dershowitz, simply stopped speaking to him after Trump.

Dershowitz soon found himself in the unique position of being hated by the hard left and the hard right. Regardless, he remains the barrister to whom the rich and often heinous go to try to get themselves off the hook.

Curtin points out that Dershowitz continues outraging people: In an interview with the Forward, a U.S. media company with a majority Jewish-American audience, he said he would defend Yahya Sinwar, a Hamas leader, pro bono if he surrendered to Israeli authorities.

So, what possessed Curtin to delve into Dershowitz’s world?

“Love him or hate him, his career is so vast. He’s like Woody Allen’s Zelig figure, who just pops up at every key legal moment,” Curtin says. “He was brought into Montebello to consult with Pierre Trudeau in 1970 on the War Measures Act. He just seems to be always there.”

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Curtin first interviewed Dershowitz a decade back for his documentary Why the Jews?, a compelling probe into what propels so many Jews to overachieve on so many fronts and what the consequences ­have been. He remained intrigued by Dershowitz, who gave him carte blanche in doing this doc.

As was the case with Why the Jews?, The Trials of Alan Dershowitz, Curtin’s 23rd documentary film, is quite the departure for him. The ex-CBC staffer had spent much of his film career focusing on the British Royal Family: Royals & Animals; Serving the Royals; After Elizabeth II: The Monarchy in Peril? and Chasing the Royals: The Media and the Monarchy.

Dershowitz represented a “different challenge.”

Curtin followed him through the Epstein years and his exoneration in the Giuffre lawsuit: “I could feel that really weighing him down. That was just a wild accusation, but people wanted to believe it. They despised him for something he never did. He could live with people not liking him for O.J., but this was different.”

Dershowitz reveals he never expected his career would be defined by Giuffre and Trump, as it appears to be now.

“People took the Trump involvement incredibly poorly,” Curtin says. “It really turned people off. Dershowitz likes to be provocative, but also believes in getting the best possible deal for his client, be they innocent or guilty.

“Of course, he has a big ego. Of course, he likes fame. But he’s not doing this for that. He really believes in his principles and believes he stands by them at all costs.”

AT A GLANCE

The Trials of Alan Dershowitz screens Thursday, April 25 at 7 p.m. at Concordia’s downtown DeSève Cinema in conjunction with the Blue Metropolis festival. For more information, visit bluemetropolis.org or call 438-304-9917.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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