Pam Bresnahan, an honorary member of COMBAR from Washington DC passed away on 31st March 2021 after a final battle with cancer.
She was an attorney with the DC Office of Vorys, Sater Seymour and Pease and had been with them over 25 years. She was head of the Litigation Practice Group in DC. She was an accomplished trial lawyer and one of the most influential women lawyers in the US.
She had been involved in the American Bar Association for over 30 years, starting in the Young Lawyers Division and holding a number of leadership positions including as a member of the Board of Governors. As a member of the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary she testified before the United States Senate during the confirmation hearings for the current US Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts.
She developed close links with the Bar of England and Wales, initially through invitations extended by the ABA to the Young Barristers Committee of the Bar Council and thereafter to the Chair of the Bar, and over succeeding years through Pam making and maintaining many close friendships with members of the Bar here.
As an honorary member of COMBAR, Pam very much enjoyed and brought light, laughter and sharp legal insight to its North American Meetings. She was also a very regular attender at the annual conference of the European Circuit of the Bar.
COMBAR and the English Bar more broadly has lost a great friend, who will be much missed.
A fuller tribute to Pam’s life and work, published in the Washington Post, can be found here: