In addition, he added, he only has to walk a few blocks from where he is living to Court TV offices.

But he said he does not plan to spend his entire sabbatical working on the program.

"It will be an integrated year," Dershowitz said. "I hope to do a lot of things; have some fun, do some work, learn a lot, read a lot and write a lot."

A book he plans to write, on citizen's rights, focusing especially on rights to a free trial, will tie in nicely with his work at Court TV. Dershowitz said he expects to devote at least a chapter to his experiences on television.

"I didn't want to teach during my year off," Dershowitz said. "I wanted to do something very different."

While Dershowitz's specialty is First Amendment cases, he has been involved in several high-profile criminal trials in the past and writes and speaks on a variety of law-related topics.