
Herbert L. Fenster
FAX: 202.496.7756
Experience
Herbert L. Fenster focuses his practice on litigation, particularly, against the United States and on the subjects of procurement, environmental, administrative and tort law and has been with the firm for fifty years; he is resident in the Washington, DC and Denver, Colorado offices. He has extensive experience in the negotiation, interpretation, and litigation of contracts for major weapons systems, as well as the procurement of research and development.
Fenster has had key involvement in critical legal and regulatory issues arising in the award and termination of major weapons programs. He has lectured and testified multiple times on the subject of government finance and accounting from both industry and government perspectives and has also had major involvement in contracting for “Stability Operations and Expeditionary Support” starting in the early years of the Vietnam War.
Fenster is an authority in litigation under a number of federal statutes including the Administrative Procedure Act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
Fenster holds degrees in architecture/civil engineering, history, and economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School. He is an author and lecturer on government and administrative law subjects and served as litigation counsel for the Reagan-Bush Campaign Committee and for the Grace Commission. Fenster is a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Chamber Litigation Center and a corporate and foundation director and trustee. He is also the General Counsel of the National Defense University Foundation.
Fenster chaired the Student Affairs Advisory Board at the University of Colorado and is the co-chair of the Board of Directors of the University’s Alliance for Technology Learning and Society Institute (“ATLAS”) and the Center of the American West. He advises the University on a wide range of privatization projects.
Fenster led a multi-firm team of lawyers who, on February 23, 1998 obtained a judgment against the United States in the amount of $3.877 billion, the largest judgment ever entered against the government. He represented the Secretary of the Interior in Indian Trust Litigation before the federal courts.
Mr. Fenster has been recognized as a “Colorado Super Lawyer” by the publishers of Law and Politics.
Education
- University of Virginia Law School
- University of Pennsylvania
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Colorado
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
Publications:
- "Government Contract Funding Under Continuing Resolutions," 95 Fed. Cont. Rep. 180 (2011), (co-authored with Jim Schweiter)
- "Contingency Contracting - Contractors Continue March Toward Full Combat Roles," 97 Fed. Cont. Rep. 74 (2012) (co-authored with John Sorrenti)
- "The Great War Powers Misconstruction," Journal of National Security Law & Policy, Volume 5, Issue 2 (2012)
















