Attorney, Sperryvill

William A. Dobrovir, 74, of Sperryville, died May 23 at Fauquier Hospital.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Bill was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College in Connecticut and the Harvard Law 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 trailblazing consumer  initiatives. On the day of Bill's death Ralph Nader phoned Bill's wife and said, "Bill was a pioneer of Public Interest Law; chronic desire to take on the abuses of power."

In the early 1970s, Bill started his 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 1974. 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 (1974), 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 his victory in the lower courts, holding that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue.

In Kissinger v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (1980), 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.

In Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts (1992), Bill won a case brought on behalf of Tax Analysts, a client for over 35 years. Bill represented Tax Analysts, a leading publisher of tax-related news, in a number of cases that forced the Internal Revenue Service to disclose a wide range of documents that provide taxpayers with guidance as to how IRS interprets the nation's tax laws. The case that reached the Supreme Court involved access to opinions of federal trial judges that construed the tax laws, which were difficult to obtain prior to the Internet age. The Supreme Court ruled, 8-1, that Tax Analysts could obtain these rulings from the Justice Department, which represented the IRS in all tax cases.

Bill's most recent victory for Tax Analysts came in the District of Columbia Circuit in July 2007, where the court rejected IRS' claim that interpretations of the tax laws that the IRS sent out via e-mail were "informal" advice that did not have to be disclosed to the public. Given the prevalence of e-mail as a medium of communication, this will be an important ruling for taxpayers in the years ahead.

As these examples show, a focus of Bill's practice, both in Washington and in Virginia, was representing the "little guy," including government employees facing job discrimination, whistle blowers, and employees losing pension protections. One of his last cases involved a large class action suit involving the Interior Department's stewardship of trust accounts held for the benefit of members of Indian tribes.

Bill moved to Rappahannock County in the mid-1980s, where he practiced law in Warrenton, and then from his home until shortly before his death.

Bill was active in volunteer work in Rappahannock County. He was a past president of the Rappahannock Animal Welfare League (RAWL). He currently served on the boards of directors of the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance (RCCA) and the Rappahannock County Library.
Bill was an avid fox hunter.
Bill's survivors include his wife, Mary Dobrovir, his sister Ellen Ann Dobrovir (of New York City) and his three horses, five cats and two Basset Hounds.
Tax deductible contributions may be made in Bill's memory to: The Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance. PO Box 116 Sperryville, VA 22740;
The Rappahannock Animal Welfare League, PO Box 396, Amissville, VA 20106;
and RappCATS, PO Box 307 Washington, VA 22747.