Abraham: The World’s First (But Certainly Not Last) Jewish Lawyer

As Alan Dershowitz sees it, the Hebrew Bible’s two great examples of advocacy on behalf of problematic defendants–Abraham trying to convince God not to destroy the people of Sodom, and Moses trying to convince God not to destroy the golden-calf-worshipping Children of Israel–established the template for Jewish lawyers for the next four thousand years. Whether because throughout history Jews have found themselves unjustly accused of crimes ranging from deicide to ritual child murder to treason or because the biblical exhortations regarding justice, justice, shall you pursue have been implanted in the Jewish psyche, Jewish lawyers have been at the forefront of the battles against tyranny, in advocating for those denied due process, in negotiating for just and equitable solutions to complex legal problems, and in the efforts to ensure a fair trial for anyone accused of a crime. In this survey of Jewish lawyers throughout history, Dershowitz profiles Jewish lawyers both wellknown and unheralded, admired and excoriated, victorious and defeated–and, of course, gives us some glimpses into the gungho practice of law Dershowitz-style. Louis Brandeis, Theodor Herzl, Judah Benjamin, Max