David H Shapiro

David H Shapiro of Washington, DC, passed away at midnight on September 7th, the 14th of Elul. He is survived by his three daughters, Sabrina Shapiro(David Wise), Audra Shapiro Nash (Sadie Shapiro Nash), and Mirit Bershad Shapiro; and his siblings Richard Shapiro (Eunice Hartman), and Beth Shapiro (Carol Lundeen).

Born in Brooklyn, NY, to George Shapiro and Jeanne Rivlin Shapiro, David grew up in Kew Gardens, Queens, NY and in Fairlawn, NJ. He attended American University in Washington, DC, earning a BA in Political Science in 1970, then received his J.D. at Case Western Reserve Law School in Cleveland in 1974.

David was a brilliant and passionate civil rights attorney, inspired by Atticus Finch from, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. He began his law career in the Office of the General Counsel of the United States Civil Service Commission as an Attorney-Advisor, and from 1978-1981 served as Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. After leaving government service in October of 1981, he joined and eventually became a partner at Kator, Scott, & Heller, where he practiced trial and appellate litigation in both civil and criminal courts. David continued to serve as a speaker and lecturer for federal agencies, including the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, the Justice Department's Legal Education Institute, the national training conference for the Department of the Navy's Office of General Counsel, and the Merit Systems Protection Board's annual training conference.

In 1993, David joined Atty. Richard L. Swick to form the law firm of Swick & Shapiro. Until his retirement in 2024, David continued and expanded upon his specialty in civil rights and employment discrimination.

In 1997 and 1999, he served on the faculty of Georgetown University Law Center’s continuing education program entitled, "Litigating Employment Cases: Views From The Bench." The course was designed to provide lawyers practicing in the field of employment discrimination law with high-level, professional guidance in civil rights litigation strategy and tactics from experienced attorneys and federal judges, before whom many such cases are litigated.

During the nearly 50 years that David practiced law his skills and presence were widely respected by colleagues, opposing counsel, judges, and even witnesses for the other side. Federal court records show that David entered his appearance in 204 cases in DC and many others in Virginia, Maryland and around the country. As such, David was among the most frequent practitioners in that court. David was extraordinarily effective in the courtroom and also a force at the settlement table. He took the term zealous representation to new heights.

David cared about all of his clients. Some of his cases led to significant changes in law. One such case involved Kathy Adams, who was refused employment at the State Department because she had a history of breast cancer. After the Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s dismissal of the case, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act, making it clear that it is unlawful to discriminate based on a history of cancer. Another notable client was Dr. Marsha Coleman Adebayo, who won a historic lawsuit against the EPA on the basis of sex, color, race discrimination, and a hostile work environment. She subsequently testified before Congress on two occasions, which contributed to the passage of the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act, which now protects federal employees from retaliation for complaining about discrimination.

He also represented Jewish violinist Boris Reznikov in his successful lawsuit against a Kennedy Center orchestral conductor, who had been a member of a Hitler youth group as a teenager, and the personnel and operations manager for the Kennedy Center, for unlawful termination on the basis of antisemitism. This was particularly meaningful to David as a Jewish man and son of his father — a WWII veteran who was a member of the Fighting 69th Division, which liberated the Leipzig-Thekla subcamp of Buchenwald in 1945.

Outside of work, David was a fabulous dancer, had a great love of theater, classical poetry, and old school R&B. His performance in the courtroom was exemplary of his keen passion and theatrical nature. He often said he might have been a poet or actor in another life. His dream theater role was Billy Flynn, the charismatic “razzle dazzle” attorney in the musical Chicago.

David loved reading a good novel and was a history buff. He was known for giving excellent driving tours of Washington to out-of-town friends and family, pointing out monuments, federal buildings, statues, and embassies — sharing factoids on the history of their construction and renovations. He had a way of bringing stories to life, whether his audience was judge, jury, or a group of friends around the Shabbat dinner table.

He was a proud Jewish American.

The funeral will be at Hines-Rinaldi, at 10:30 AM on Thursday, September 11th, followed by burial at Mount Lebanon cemetery on Adelphi Rd. There will be Shiva at 7:00 PM on Thursday, 6:00 PM on Sunday, and 7:00 PM Monday in friendship heights. Contact the family for details.

To join the funeral via Zoom, please follow the instructions via this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/84300665600/invitations?signature=eXPO7nu-TVEERJ8j_zIqDGCdcaXF-IGWdANRITsca4M