# UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE 500 PEARL STREET NEW YORK. NEW YORK 10007 (212) 805.6715
OF RICHARD M. BERMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

> Bruce A. Louis Chair Fordham University School of Law 150 West 62nd Street Room 7-168 New York City, NY 10023

Dear Professor M,



September 4, 2019

Thank you for your letter of August 30, 2019.1 appreciate your taking the time to clarify the record.

I learned that you had been "retained to provide opinions as an expert on legal ethics" in v. Dershowitz lowing the August 27, 2019 public hearing in US v. Epstein. I learned o your role in the case by reading your affidavit, dated June 7, 2019, which includes your legal ethics opinion that David Boies should be di ualified from representing in that matter. As you are aware, both Mr. Boles and were invited to testify at the August 27, 2019 hearing.

I remain surprised that your advocacy of Mr. Boies' disqualification from representing Ms. Guiffit (in a case obviously related to US v. Epstein) was not disclosed simultaneously with your August 26, 2019 Law Journal opinion piece entitled "The Judge in Epstein's Case Should Not Turn the Dismissal Into a Drama for the Victims." I am also surprised that you would find the August 27, 2019 public hearing to be an inappropriate occasion for transparency in light of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 57 and the Crime Victims' Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3771. You wrote: "This is an odd moment for transparency in a criminal case."

Final) it is unfortunate that your opinion piece may have been construed as an effort to chill and Mr. Boies' right to be heard under 18 U.S.C. § 3771 at the August 27, 2019 public hearing. You wrote: "[W]hatever informational interests the victims may have would be served by affording them a chance to attend the hearing, not by giving them a speaking role."

Sincerely,

Richard M. Berman U.S.DJ.

cc: AUSA Maurene Comey; G. Weinberg, Esq.; Reid Weingarten, Esq.; David Boies, Esq.