Biglaw

Biglaw Partner Fed Gruel, Prepares For White Walkers, To Understand Associate Life

It's good to be the in-law of a Game of Thrones show runner.

By Elie Mystal on April 23, 2019 5:01 pm

Winterfell, err, in Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

David S. Cohen is a partner at WilmerHale and a former deputy director at the CIA. It would appear he’s lived a full, rich, and exciting life.

But his 15 minutes of fame started Sunday. Here’s a tweet from the CIA (which I didn’t know was ON Twitter even though I assumed they SPY ON everything anybody says on Twitter):

American Lawyer reports that Cohen is the brother-in-law of Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff.

Nepotism is such a big part of Game of Thrones, I’m not at all surprised it worked to score a cameo. People are constantly being thrust into ridiculous situations simply because they’re related to some person who is actually important.

But Cohen also seems to have understood another important lesson from the show:

Cohen and his family were visiting Benioff over Thanksgiving in 2017 in Belfast, where the final season of the show was being filmed, he said. Cohen and his niece asked if they could be in the show and the pair then ventured out to Winterfell castle, located about an hour north of the city.

“We went out there and got our costumes and makeup and hair all done—and then spent six hours freezing because it was really cold,” Cohen said. “Winter had really come to Northern Ireland.”

Dude, if you volunteer to go to the Wall, somebody is going to send your ass to the Wall. And it’s going to be cold, and you’re going to have to wear an uncomfortable-looking pelt, and if you’re very lucky, Tormund Giantsbane won’t try to have sex with you.

Oh, I’m just making fun of Cohen because I’m extremely jealous. Watching Grey Worm and Missandei this season, I would so love to be the “other” black person in Winterfell. Maybe the black guy who has been there all along and then these two other black people show up and I act like we’ve been friends forever and then I could have one line: “Take me with you.”

I doubt Cohen’s character survives the next episode. The CIA ain’t got nothing on the Night King.

It’s Wilmer vs. White Walkers as Big Law Partner Makes ‘Game of Thrones’ Cameo [American Lawyer]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.