Peter D. Trooboff, David Bederman: Remembrances of a Friendship That Began at Covington & Burling Llp in Washington, D.c.

• Citation: Vol. 61
• Publication year: 2012

DAVID BEDERMAN: REMEMBRANCES OF A FRIENDSHIP THAT BEGAN AT COVINGTON & BURLING LLP IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Peter D. Trooboff*

David and I became friends when he was a summer associate at Covington

& Burling LLP during the summer of 1987. As our hiring partner during this period, I was asked to maintain the liaison with David during his two years as a clerk, first with Judge Wiggins, and then at the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal. I recall long conversations with him over whether the extra year clerking in The Hague would be worthwhile. We agreed that it would be enjoyable. As in so many other endeavors, David made the experience valuable professionally and used the lessons from that year time and again in practice and academic life.

David and I renewed our friendship when he came to Covington in 1989 as an associate before joining the Emory Law faculty. By a happy coincidence, I met Lorre before David did. If memory serves me correctly, she was in The Hague in the summer of 1986 when I gave lectures at the Hague Academy of International Law on foreign-state immunity. I well recall a luncheon that she and another friend invited me to attend during that period of teaching. So when I learned of David’s marriage to Lorre, it was a happy combination of two friends.

From his first days in Washington, my partners could see that David was an energetic and hard-working lawyer. They recognized his imagination and resourcefulness. They commented on his quick study of even the most complex issues and his flair for promptly and effectively addressing the task at hand.

Despite the relatively short period of his practice with Covington from December 1989 to June 1991, David worked with a remarkable number of our partners and on an especially rich variety of matters. While his major

* Peter D. Trooboff is Senior Counsel with Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C. He was president of the American Society of International Law (1990–1992) and currently serves as an honorary editor of the American Journal of International Law. He is a member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law and delivered the Academy’s general course in private international law in 2008.

contribution was to international matters at Covington, I would be remiss if I failed to note his significant role in two important pro bono cases. In Trout v. Lehman, we were lead counsel for five of thirty-five female Navy employees who, before we entered the case, had been found to be the victims of

intentional sex discrimination.1...