William A. Dobrovir

William A. Dobrovir

William A. Dobrovir. 74, of Sperryville. died May 2.1 at Fauquier Hospital. Bom in Brooklyn. N Y . Bill was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College in Connecticut and the Harvard I.aw School Bill began his law career in Washington, D C' with Covington & Burling before leaving to work on the presidential campaign of Robert F Kennedy After the Kennedy campaign. Bill was hired by Ralph Nader to handle litigation involving Nader's trailbla/ing consumer initiatives. On the dale of Bill's death. Ralph Nader phoned Bill's wife and said. "Bill was a pioneer of Public Inters! Law. chronic desire to take on the abuses of power." In the early 1470s, Bill started hts own firm, known informally as Dobrovir & Friends and later as Dobrovir Oakes Gebhardt & Scull. Dobrovir Oakes & Gebhardt and Dobrovir & Gebhardt. Bill was lead counsel in a number of high-profile cases. He represented the syndicated columnist. Jack Anderson, in a lawsuit to gain access to the presidential papers of President Richard Nixon shortly after Nixon left office in 1474 When Nixon opposed disclosure. Bill filed papers to take Nixon s deposition and journeyed to San Clemente where he questioned Nixon under oath Congress eventually passed a statute providing for public access to the Nixon papers. Bill also argued three cases before the U S. Supreme Court. In the first. Schlesinger v Reservists Committee to Stop the War (I474i. he represented an anti war group that challenged the practice whereby members of Congress continued to serve as members of the armed forces reserves, despite a constitutional provision barring such service. The Supreme Court overruled hts victory in the lower courts, holding that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue. In Kissinger v Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (1480), he represented the Military Audit Project in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case that sought access under the Freedom of Information Act to notes and transcripts of Henry Kissinger's telephone calls while he served in the Nixon White House and as Secretary of State. The court ruled that they were not subject to disclosure.