David Sobel

David Sobel has served as senior counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation since 2006.  He was a co-founder and general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, DC (1994-2006). He was formerly counsel to the National Security Archive (1986-88) and an associate at Dobrovir, Oakes & Gebhardt (1983-86), one of Washington’s first public-interest law firms.

Since 1982, Sobel has litigated dozens of Freedom of Information Act cases for a variety of clients, including ABC News, the U.S. Student Association, the Fund for Constitutional Government, the Nation magazine, Coretta Scott King, former Ambassador Kenneth Rush, and numerous public-interest organizations.

Sobel’s cases have sought disclosure of information concerning the USA Patriot Act, the Total Information Awareness program and the privacy impact of aviation-security measures and other homeland-security initiatives.  Among other issues, he has litigated numerous cases involving expedited processing of FOIA requests seeking disclosure of time-sensitive information relating to ongoing public debates around controversial government activities.

He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Florida College of Law. He is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal Courts of Appeals.

(Updated April 2025)