Dershowitz: 12 Hours to Wapner

The Harvard Law School faculty boasts many prominent figures.

Few, however, are as notable or notorious as Professor of Law and ex-deli king Alan M. Dershowitz, who once again this summer demonstrated his inimitable knack for making headlines.

Dershowitz is currently involved in the international controversy over Polish Cardinal Jozef Glemp and a Catholic convent built on the outskirts of the Auschwitz death camp, which many consider a sacred ground for 2.5 million Jews who died there during World War II.

The Harvard professor is chief counsel to American Rabbi Avraham Weiss, who has launched a libel suit against Glemp for calling Weiss' peaceful protest an attempted attack on the convent's nuns.

Dershowitz called Glemp "a bigot and an anti-semite."

Dershowitz has also given time recently to a different legal dispute, one of a more personal nature.

Over the past few years, Dershowitz has locked horns with Rhode Island federal District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux over Dershowitz's charges of widespread cronyism among Rhode Island judges and lawyers.

Although he was not mentioned by Dershowitz, Lagueux struck back, banning the prominent trial lawyer from his courtroom. However, Dershowitz quickly filed a complaint, bringing Lagueux official censure for "glaringly injudicious" behavior.

When that reprimand was made public this summer, Lagueux retaliated with calls--so far unheeded--for investigations of Dershowitz's conduct during a 1987 trial.

Dershowitz said the running dispute hasn't tarnished his squeaky-clean public image, adding, "prominent lawyers have all been on my side."

But no legal dispute could bring Dershowitz the publicity he will likely receive courtesy of an upcoming guest appearance on a popular daytime television drama. A veteran of both the Geraldo Rivera and Morton Downey Jr. shows, Dershowitz will return to the airwaves as a special consultant to People's Court Judge Joseph Wapner.

During five shows tentatively scheduled for this week, Wapner occasionally mentions legal discussions with Dershowitz. In one, the civil libertarian is introduced in the audience.

Although Dershowitz has argued in higher courts, statistics suggest that his appearance on the courtroom show will be a greater boost for his fame. According to a recent survey, 54 percent of Americans can recognize and name Wapner, while only nine percent can identify U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

"Well, Judge Wapner's a better judge than Rehnquist," Dershowitz said.