Jack Theodore Litman was a criminal defense lawyer

Criminal defense lawyer

A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal conduct. Criminal defense lawyers can be permanently employed by the various jurisdictions with criminal courts. Such lawyers are often called public defenders. For a much more...

 most famous for his "blame the victim" defense of Robert Chambers, Jr.

Robert Chambers (killer)

Robert Emmet Chambers, Jr. , nicknamed the "Preppie Killer", is an American who pled guilty to manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin...

 (the "Preppy Killer").

The son of a Jewish Belgian haberdasher and his wife, who together fled Europe the day before the Nazi invasion of Belgium

Battle of Belgium

The Battle of Belgium or Belgian Campaign formed part of the greater Battle of France, an offensive campaign by Germany during the Second World War...

, Litman was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He attended Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School

Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...

 and Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 before enrolling in Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, from which he graduated in 1967.

After a Fulbright scholarship in France, he joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office under the leadership of Frank Hogan

Frank Hogan

Frank Smithwick Hogan was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Dubbed "Mr. Integrity" due to his perceived honesty and incorruptibility, he was D.A. of New York County for more than 30 years.-Life and career:...

. He left the DA's office as deputy chief of the homicide bureau, and became a defense attorney.

While intellectual and cool in the courtroom, he adopted the strategy of soliciting juries' sympathies for the perpetrators of even the most horrible murders. The tactics used in the Preppy Killer trial earned him scathing criticisms from many quarters, including victims' rights advocates, feminists, and the family of the victim.

Litman had two sons, who survived him. He died in January, 2010 of lymphoma

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...

, a disease he had suffered for more than ten years.