Chicago Community Leader Steven Coby Derringer '96 to be Honored by American Friends of The Hebrew University

Steven Coby Derringer '96, partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar and Scott LLP, will be honored at the Leaders of Distinction Awards Dinner by the American Friends of The Hebrew University (AFHU) on September 3, 2015, at the Ritz Carlton Chicago. Mr. Derringer is an alumnus of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Rothberg International School’s one-year program.

I. Steven Edelson, chairman of the Mercantiles Companies, Inc., will also be honored. Proceeds from the event will benefit students at The Hebrew University and help to advance AFHU’s mission.

“We’re thrilled to have an opportunity to express our appreciation to Coby and Steven for their leadership and commitment to Hebrew University and many other worthy causes,” said Robert I. Wertheimer, president of AFHU’s Midwest Region. “Their tireless support helps new generations of students gain access to a world-class education.”

Mr. Derringer has a national high-stakes litigation practice concentrated on products liability, torts, intellectual property and commercial disputes. His clients include Allergan, Bayer, DuPont, Dun & Bradstreet, Hewlett-Packard and Stryker. Mr. Derringer joined Bartlit Beck following a clerkship with the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has been recognized as an Illinois “Super Lawyer” and as a Client Service All-Star, an award conferred upon a small group of lawyers nationwide who drive superior client relationships. Mr. Derringer serves as an adjunct professor at the Northwestern University Law School, where he teaches high-tech trial techniques.

Mr. Derringer graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with highest distinction and received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal and chair of the Jewish Law Students Association.

At the Rothberg International School, he was a Goldsmith Scholar and met his wife, Ariel, in the program. Among his diverse humanitarian commitments, Mr. Derringer serves on Chicago’s Jewish United Fund’s Partnership Together Committee, where he helps to build relationships between the Chicago Jewish community and Kiryat Gat, its sister community in Israel. An alumnus of the Union for Reform Judaism’s camp system, he serves as Chair of the Board of Advisors of Goldman Union Camp in Zionsville, Ind. He is also a trustee at the Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School.

For further information regarding the award ceremony on September 3, contact Judith Shenkman, Executive Director, AFHU Midwest Region, at 312-329-0332, or jshenkman@afhu.org.