Dershowitz to Head Qimron’s Legal Team

Elisha Qimron, the Israeli Dead Sea Scroll scholar who is suing the Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) for a quarter of a million dollars, has hired Alan Dershowitz, one of this country’s most famous and most feared lawyers, to fight his case in the United States. Time magazine has called Dershowitz “the top lawyer of last resort in the country.” The Harvard professor’s successful defense of Klaus von Bulow, accused of murdering his wife, was made into the popular movie Reversal of Fortune. Less successful was Dershowitz’s defense of heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, accused of rape, and hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, accused of tax evasion. Dershowitz is also author of the bestseller Chutzpah and writes a regular column for Penthouse magazine.

At stake in the Dead Sea Scroll litigation is open access to one of the most important Dead Sea Scrolls, known as MMT,¹ which officially remains unpublished 40 years after it was discovered. The precedent-setting litigation is also likely to affect open scholarly access not only to reconstructed Dead Sea Scrolls, but to other reconstructed ancient texts as well.