Edward B. Burling
Edward Burnham Burling was a prominent American lawyer and the named partner of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Covington & Burling.Biography
He grew up in Eldora, Iowa and worked in a grocery store at age eleven, and went on to Grinnell College and then to Harvard Law School. After graduation, he returned to the Midwest to practice in Chicago for almost 25 years.
Later he came to Washington as general counsel for the United States Shipping Board where he was introduced to Harry Covington. They established the law firm on January 1, 1919.
In the 1940s, Burling was one of the core group brought together by Paul Nitze and Christian Herter to establish the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Burling served on the School's Advisory Council until his death in 1966. Odly and ominously, in the year of his passing, Burling purchased a new 1966 black Cadillac limousine for personal use. Mr. Burling must have hoped for a few years of enjoying the car, which never came to fruition. The Chair of International Law and Organizations is named after him since 1972.
