Stewart, David O.

views updated

Stewart, David O.

PERSONAL:

Education: Yale University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1973; Yale Law School, J.D., 1978.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Ropes & Gray, 1 Metro Center, 700 12th St. N.W., Ste. 900, Washington, DC 20005-3948. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Attorney. Admitted to bar in Washington, DC, 1980, and Maryland, 1986. Partner with Ropes & Gray (law firm), Washington, DC, 1989—. Formerly law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. Lecturer to professional groups.

MEMBER:

American Bar Association (member of task force on double jeopard).

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Representing Small Businesses, Wiley Law Publications (New York, NY), 1986.

The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of short stories and a novel.

SIDELIGHTS:

David O. Stewart is a constitutional lawyer who has argued cases all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. A trial provided the impetus for his first book, The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. Looking for a way to refute his opponent's arguments, he sat down to read more than 500 pages of James Madison's notes on the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. ‘Once I started reading, I stopped worrying about my case,’ he stated on his Web site. ‘Instead, I focused on the drama, the wisdom, and the occasional depressing blunder of the fifty-five Framers who wrote the Constitution.’ Despite an extensive background in Constitutional law, Steward found himself learning a great deal he had not previously known about the Constitution and its creators. In his book, he presents his insights into the Constitution and his depiction of the events that led to the Constitutional Convention, as well as the interplay between the personalities that brought it to life.

Response was very favorable to The Summer of 1787. John Davis, a writer for the Decatur Daily Web site, believed that Stewart has ‘written a profound, and yet utterly readable account of the infighting that brought about this most praiseworthy of law collections.’ The book's subject matter was also deemed ‘fascinating’ by Howard Shirley, on the BookPage Web site. He further noted that the author ‘writes skillfully and fluidly, making what even the delegates acknowledged as a tiresome process into an interesting, compelling read.’ Although the history of the Constitution has been set forth in other books, Stewart's is well-worth reading, according to Jay Freeman in Booklist, because he is ‘a fine writer whose narrative unfolds like a well-structured novel.’ Reviewing for the New York Law Journal, Theodore Pollack stated: ‘A reader who begins and finishes the journey of reading this book will have a highly informative and entertaining trip."