Photo: Beverly Rezneck

Chambers: (202) 354-3270

Judge Oberdorfer was appointed to the United States District Court in October 1977. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1939 and received an LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1946 after four years of military service. Judge Oberdorfer was law clerk to Justice Hugo L. Black during the 1946 term of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was in private practice from 1947 until he became Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, Department of Justice, in 1961. He returned to private practice in 1965. When appointed to the bench, Judge Oberdorfer was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. He has served as Co-Chairman of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Services Corporation, and President of the D.C. Bar.