David Hershberg

David Hershberg, J.D. 

AB, NYU; Phi Beta Kappa
J.D., Harvard Law School
Columbia Business School, Advanced Management Degree

David Hershberg has been an attorney since 1966. He started as an associate in NYC law firms and then as a senior officer in three large public corporations as well as a vice chairman with responsibility for a number of non-legal functions. He has served on a number of boards of directors and has been the sole independent director in two bankruptcy proceedings.

Mr. Hershberg has read numerous books and attended online courses and seminars relating to the constitutional convention and the history of the constitution since it was ratified until now. For the past 12 years he has voluntarily taught the interactive adult education course described under Presentation Topics at a wide variety of venues. He challenges the participants to imagine that they were present in Independence Hall from May through September 1787.

Presentation Topics
“You are There…1787 Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention”
A non-legal intensive look at what it was like to be in that room. Who was there? Why they were there? What was accomplished? The U.S. Constitution has endured for approximately 245 years but is it still a viable platform for governing today?

• Has the Supreme Court become the legislature of last resort?
• Term limits for Congress and the federal courts
• Should the Electoral College be abolished or modified?
• Money in politics
• The erosion of separation of powers and checks and balances and the relationship between the nation and the states
• Constitutional interpretation: originalism or what?
• The 4th branch of government not in the Constitution
• Amending the Constitution: too easy, too difficult; or just right
• The first amendment: The broad definition of rights vs. the “public interest”

Preferred Formats: Combination of interactive lecture followed by interactive discussions.