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Alan Dershowitz, the famed civil liberties attorney, is asking not to be sanctioned alongside other attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem after he signed onto a lawsuit that the judge called a “frivolous complaint.”

Attorneys: Alan Dershowitz should have known better • Arizona Mirror HOME NEWS Elections Law & Government Immigration Education Benson’s Corner COMMENTARY ABOUT SUBSCRIBE DONATE Elections Law & Government Immigration Education Benson’s Corner 7:09 Brief Election 2022Elections A to Z Attorneys: Alan Dershowitz should have known better By: Caitlin Sievers - May 26, 2023 7:09 am Photo by Krisanapong Detraphiphat | Getty Images Alan Dershowitz, the famed civil liberties attorney, is asking not to be sanctioned alongside other attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem after he signed onto a lawsuit that the judge called a “frivolous complaint.” Dershowitz claimed during a telephone hearing on Wednesday that he only participated in the case, which aimed to stop Arizona from using any type of electronic voting machines to tally ballots, in a limited capacity and should therefore not be held responsible for the false claims in the suit.  GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUBSCRIBE U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi already ordered sanctions against Lake and Finchem’s lawyers in December for including false and misleading claims in their suit, including saying that Arizonans don’t use paper ballots to vote, something that anyone who has voted in the state knows isn’t true.  But two Arizona attorneys told the Arizona Mirror that because Dershowitz was listed as counsel in the case and signed his name to many of the filings, he was legally just as responsible for its content as the other lawyers who represented Lake and Finchem.  “I had the honest, good faith belief that I was only on here as a consultant,” Dershowitz told the judge.  Dershowitz, who is 84 and a former professor at Harvard Law, should have been well aware of his obligations, retired Arizona attorney Scot Stirling told the Arizona Mirror.  Dershowitz made it a point to tell the judge that he doesn’t know either Lake or Finchem personally.  “I do not like Ms. Lake,” Dershowitz said. “I would never have voted for her.”  While Dershowitz told the judge on Wednesday that he only consulted on the case as a constitutional law expert and was not involved in any other way, he agreed to be admitted to be an attorney in the case “pro hac vice,” which allows an attorney who isn’t licensed in a state to work on a specific case in that state.  “Everyone knows those rules, that when you appear in a case, you accept responsibility for the case,” Stirling said. “If he consented to appear in the case, he knows the responsibility he was taking on.”  Stirling spent his entire 43-year career working in Arizona, but for the last half of it did most of his work outside the state, having to be admitted to cases “pro hac vice” on a regular basis. Dershowitz repeatedly made a point during the hearing to say he was listed as “of counsel” instead of “counsel” on the filings, but the attorneys who spoke to the Mirror said that doesn’t matter in the slightest.  Being listed as “of counsel” is about how a lawyer is associated with a firm and has no real meaning in court filings, Mark Kokanovich, an attorney at Ballard Spahr, told the Mirror. (Editor’s note: Ballard Spahr represents the Arizona Mirror and its publisher, States Newsroom, on First Amendment issues.) Tuchi seemed to have a similar take, saying on Wednesday that he’d “found no authority” to support the position that “of counsel” meant anything different than being listed as counsel.  If a lawyer signs his name to a document, he has a legal obligation to know what is in it, Stirling said.  “Nothing should be filed with his name on it that he doesn’t know about,” he said. “You might trust other lawyers to do the work, but that doesn’t lessen your responsibility.”  One might allow another attorney to handle a certain part of a case, but should only do that with someone they trust, Stirling added.  “You only do that because you know the people you’re working with are competent and ethical and are not going to do crazy things to get you into trouble,” he said.  Lake and Finchem filed the suit against then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in April 2022, claiming that the state’s voting machines were susceptible to hacking and therefore shouldn’t be used. Tuchi dismissed the suit in August, saying that it had no merit.  SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST. DONATE Republish Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. Caitlin SieversCaitlin joined the Arizona Mirror in 2022 with almost 10 years of experience as a reporter and editor, holding local government leaders accountable from newsrooms across the West and Midwest. She's won statewide awards in Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin for reporting, photography and commentary.MORE FROM AUTHOR Related News How David Stevens is making Cochise County a 'laboratory'… by Jen Fifield/Votebeat February 7, 2023 Anti-abortion attorneys ascend federal government ranks with… by Sofia Resnick December 11, 2023 Funding for 33 rural broadband projects unveiled by USDA by Jennifer Shutt June 13, 2023 Insightful. Investigative. Independent. Democracy Toolkit // Register to Vote | Where do I vote? | Request an early ballot | Was my early ballot counted? | Find/contact my legislators DEMOCRACY TOOLKIT Register to Vote Where do I vote? Request an early ballot Was my early ballot counted? Find/contact my legislators © Arizona Mirror, 2024 ABOUT US Amplifying the voices of Arizonans whose stories are unheard; shining a light on the relationships between people, power and policy; and holding public officials to account. 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DEIJ Policy | Ethics Policy | Privacy Policy © Arizona Mirror, 2024 1XAttorneys: Alan Dershowitz should have known better by Caitlin Sievers, Arizona Mirror May 26, 2023 <h1>Attorneys: Alan Dershowitz should have known better</h1> <p>by Caitlin Sievers, <a href="https://azmirror.com">Arizona Mirror</a> <br />May 26, 2023</p> <p><a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/alan-m-dershowitz/">Alan Dershowitz</a>, the famed civil liberties attorney, is asking not to be sanctioned alongside other attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem after he signed onto a lawsuit that the judge called a “frivolous complaint.”</p> <p>Dershowitz claimed during a telephone hearing on Wednesday that he only participated in the case, which aimed to stop Arizona from using any type of electronic voting machines to tally ballots, in a limited capacity and should therefore not be held responsible for the false claims in the suit. </p> <a href="/subscribe"> <div class="subscribeShortcodeContainer"> <div class="subscribeTextContainer"> <i></i> <p>GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX</p> </div> <div class="subscribeButtonContainer"> SUBSCRIBE </div> </div> </a> <p>U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi already <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/kari-lakes-counsel-sanctioned-for-false-claims-in-election-suit">ordered sanctions</a> against Lake and Finchem’s lawyers in December for including false and misleading claims in their suit, including saying that Arizonans don’t use paper ballots to vote, something that anyone who has voted in the state knows isn’t true. </p> <p>But two Arizona attorneys told the Arizona Mirror that because Dershowitz was listed as counsel in the case and signed his name to many of the filings, he was legally just as responsible for its content as the other lawyers who represented Lake and Finchem. </p> <p>“I had the honest, good faith belief that I was only on here as a consultant,” Dershowitz told the judge. </p> <p>Dershowitz, who is 84 and a former professor at Harvard Law, should have been well aware of his obligations, retired Arizona attorney Scot Stirling told the Arizona Mirror. </p> <p>Dershowitz made it a point to tell the judge that he doesn’t know either Lake or Finchem personally. </p> <p>“I do not like Ms. Lake,” Dershowitz said. “I would never have voted for her.” </p> <p>While Dershowitz told the judge on Wednesday that he only consulted on the case as a constitutional law expert and was not involved in any other way, he agreed to be admitted to be an attorney in the case “pro hac vice,” which allows an attorney who isn’t licensed in a state to work on a specific case in that state. </p> <p>“Everyone knows those rules, that when you appear in a case, you accept responsibility for the case,” Stirling said. “If he consented to appear in the case, he knows the responsibility he was taking on.” </p> <p>Stirling spent his entire 43-year career working in Arizona, but for the last half of it did most of his work outside the state, having to be admitted to cases “pro hac vice” on a regular basis.</p> <p>Dershowitz repeatedly made a point during the hearing to say he was listed as “of counsel” instead of “counsel” on the filings, but the attorneys who spoke to the Mirror said that doesn’t matter in the slightest. </p> <p>Being listed as “of counsel” is about how a lawyer is associated with a firm and has no real meaning in court filings, Mark Kokanovich, an attorney at Ballard Spahr, told the Mirror. (<i>Editor’s note: Ballard Spahr represents the Arizona Mirror and its publisher, States Newsroom, on First Amendment issues</i>.)</p> <p>Tuchi seemed to have a similar take, saying on Wednesday that he’d “found no authority” to support the position that “of counsel” meant anything different than being listed as counsel. </p> <p>If a lawyer signs his name to a document, he has a legal obligation to know what is in it, Stirling said. </p> <p>“Nothing should be filed with his name on it that he doesn’t know about,” he said. “You might trust other lawyers to do the work, but that doesn’t lessen your responsibility.” </p> <p>One might allow another attorney to handle a certain part of a case, but should only do that with someone they trust, Stirling added. </p> <p>“You only do that because you know the people you’re working with are competent and ethical and are not going to do crazy things to get you into trouble,” he said. </p> <p>Lake and Finchem filed the suit against then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in April 2022, claiming that the state’s voting machines were susceptible to hacking and therefore shouldn’t be used. Tuchi dismissed the suit in August, saying that it had no merit. </p> <a href="/donate"> <div class="donateContainer"> <div class="donateTextContainer"> <p>SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.</p> </div> <div class="donateButtonContainer"> DONATE </div> </div> </a> <style> figure, .tipContainer, .socContainer, .subscribeShortcodeContainer, .donateContainer {display:none !important;} .youtubeContainer { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom:12px; } .youtubeContainer iframe, .video-container object, .video-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100% !important; height: 100%; margin: 12px 0px !important; } .newsroomSidebar {width:35%;max-width:35%;padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;float:right;margin-left:50px;} .snrsInfoboxSubContainer {padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;} .halfwidth {float:right;width:50%;max-width:50%;} .indent2Container {margin-left: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; border-left: solid 1px black;padding-left: 2em;} @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {.newsroomSidebar {max-width:95%;width:95%;margin-left:4%} .halfwidth {float:none;width:100%;max-width:100%;} }</style> <p><a href="https://azmirror.com">Arizona Mirror</a> is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>. Follow Arizona Mirror on <a href="https://facebook.com/azmirror">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/@ArizonaMirror">Twitter</a>.</p> View Republishing Guidelines Copy to clipboard