Law Schools

Harvard Makes Right Call To Oust Dean For Repping Harvey Weinstein

Cue the sanctimonious whining.

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(YANN COATSALIOU/AFP/Getty Images)

UPDATE: To clarify, the law school didn’t make this call, but Harvard College. The thrust of the article remains the same, but it’s been updated to reflect this.

After sparking a protest over his decision to represent Harvey Weinstein, Harvard Law School Professor Ron Sullivan is now out as faculty dean. Professor Sullivan had already bowed out of the Weinstein case over the uproar, but that wasn’t enough for the school to keep Sullivan in his position as public representative of the school administration.

As one might suspect, this move has kicked up outrage among the right-wing “televisentia,” like fellow Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, who felt the need to complain about the “New McCarthyism” of not standing up for sexual predators despite also having sex scandal accusations hovering over him.

Right about now, making Jeffrey Epstein connections isn’t really the help Sullivan needs.

However, Harvard made the right move, and no amount of sanctimonious hand wringing about everyone’s right to zealous representation changes that. Harvey Weinstein absolutely has a right to hire a lawyer and there’s no reason to fault an attorney for taking on that representation per se.

Weinstein’s press flack jumped head first into this faux idealistic claptrap:

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“Mr. Sullivan believed that Mr. Weinstein deserved a vigorous defense, and it is a sad moment for us all right now,” Engelmayer said. “We, as a country, have now reached the point when a Harvard lawyer and professor cannot serve his duty to, and belief in, the law and defend a person who may be deemed unpopular or unworthy of a legal defense by segments of the public.”

But there’s more to a decision to represent someone than holding a law license and a willingness to work. For Sullivan — and by extension Harvard — this case more closely resembled the brief, ill-fated Lisa Bloom engagement. Bloom, the noted feminist attorney, took on Weinstein as a client in the early days of the scandal that now has him facing serious jail time. When she pulled out after being scolded by her mom, I wrote:

But while that moral high horse is saddled perfectly for the attorney as lawyer, it doesn’t always suit the attorney as businessperson. Building a practice is all about finding that niche, and Lisa Bloom’s success is built on her reputation as an advocate for victims of sexual misconduct. Her clients seek her out, not just for her experience in this field, but because victims who already face an uphill battle with trust can feel confident that they have someone firmly in their corner. In fact, that’s why a mother with a practice focused on showing that consistency releases a statement like this about their daughter.

There are potential impacts to an attorney’s long-term business in every engagement. For a lawyer positioning themselves as a committed, dispassionate criminal defense attorney, unsavory clients don’t matter. For a feminist attorney, representing accused rapists undermines the core credibility of her mission.

Sullivan had “Harvard dean” attached to his name and bringing Harvard into this case put Harvard’s professional reputation on the line. Putting aside the long shadow of Jeffrey Epstein, and the school’s persistent sexual violence problems. An administration figure trying to get a wealthy and famous man out of sexual violence allegations while serving in an administration that faces serious pressure to prove that it cares enough about the problem on its campus to take serious action undermines the school and the school is right — for its own reputation — to distance itself.

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This isn’t a blow to the rights of the accused unless you think so little of the legal profession that every lawyer must be a mercenary in a world with no memories. If Ron Sullivan were in private practice there would be no quibble over his involvement. But he was a public face for an institution whose professional reputation relies on serving, first and foremost, its students. Having someone those students might approach to address an episode of sexual violence publicly arguing that women aren’t to be believed undermines his obligation to the school.

Instead of embracing some half-cocked jeremiad about political correctness run amok, consider this as an internal conflict check. Sullivan chose to associate himself with a firm in the form of Harvard Law, and this case would put him in conflict with the interests of the firm’s biggest clients.

No one rails against the decline and fall of the justice system when personal injury firms don’t take on insurance defense cases.

Harvey Weinstein’s ex-lawyer loses position at Harvard despite bowing out of case [ABC News]

Earlier: Dershowitz Wanted A Trial Over Sex Trafficking Accusations — He’s Getting One
Mother Knows Best: Gloria Allred Disses Daughter’s Decision To Rep Harvey Weinstein

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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