David Adler

David Adler

A private burial service for David B. Adler, attorney at law, was held on Friday, July 17, 2020. He received his undergraduate degree from Brandeis University in 1970, and a J.D. from George Washington Law School in 1973. He spoke English, Hebrew, and Russian.

He was raised by a loving, feisty and extended family of aunts, uncles and first-generation grandparents from Russia and Poland in Syracuse, New York. Shabbat dinners were filled with vigorous debate on the political issues of day, a tradition that he and his wife carried on with their own two sons when they assumed their rightful places at the table.

He began his national service as a federal prosecutor (senior trial attorney) with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. in the Criminal and the Civil Right Divisions (1973-1987) where he was granted a Top-Secret security clearance. With his trusted team of FBI agents, he specialized in police brutality cases, and was particularly effective at grand jury proceedings. He also worked with the Office of Solicitor General, in presenting appellate cases to the U.S. Supreme Court that changed criminal law and procedure and the constitutional rights of U.S. Citizens charged with criminal offenses.

He moved to Seattle in 1987 with his wife and two young sons and began work as a sole practitioner. As a private attorney, he had extensive trial experience involving claims of corporate law, fraud, breach of contract, civil racketeering, commercial torts, and employment law where he applied his incisive legal mind until his shocking and untimely death due to COVID-19.

He was an active member of Temple Beth Shalom, and volunteered his time advising a variety of community organizations. He cherished his role as an attorney and thought that "the law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public." He was never afraid to raise the hard questions or challenge the conventional. The only thing that came before the law was his family.

Surviving are his wife of 47 years, to whom he proposed on their third date, Susan Adler; son Joshua and daughter-in-law Dr. Julie Adler; son Benjamin Adler; sister Joan Adler, brother Richard Adler and his wife Holly; nieces Rhiannon and Amina and mother Rosamond Adler (soon turning 100!).