Attorneys

r. Berger, a founding partner of the firm, supervises the firm's litigation practice and prosecutes class and individual actions on behalf of the firm’s clients.

Mr. Berger has litigated many of the firm's most high profile and significant cases.  Together, with other partners at the firm, he has obtained five of the largest securities fraud recoveries in history - the $6.15 billion settlement of In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, the $3.2 billion settlement of In re Cendant Corporation Securities Litigation, the $1.3 billion recovery in In re Nortel Networks Corporation Securities Litigation, the $1.03 billion partial settlement of In re McKesson HBOC, Inc. Securities Litigation, and the over $600 million investor recovery in In re Lucent Technologies, Inc. Securities Litigation.

Mr. Berger's role in the WorldCom case received extensive media attention and has been the subject of feature articles in numerous major publications including BusinessWeek and The American Lawyer.  For their outstanding efforts on behalf of the WorldCom Class, The National Law Journal profiled Mr. Berger and his partner Sean Coffey (two of only eleven attorneys selected nationwide) in its special June 2005 "Winning Attorneys" section.  Additionally, Mr. Berger was featured in the July 2006 New York Times article, "A Class-Action Shuffle," which assessed the evolving landscape of the securities litigation arena.

Mr. Berger is widely recognized for his professional excellence and achievements.  For the second year in a row, he received the top attorney ranking for the “Litigation - Securities Mainly Plaintiff” category by the Chambers and Partners’ 2007 Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.  The inaugural issue of Benchmark: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys (published by Legal Media Group - Institutional Investor and Euromoney) singled out Mr. Berger as one of a handful of New York’s “local litigation stars.” Additionally, he was named a “litigation star” by the 2007 edition of the US Legal 500, one of “10 Legal Superstars” by Securities Law360, and is consistently named as one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” by Lawdragon magazine.

Mr. Berger also serves the academic community in numerous capacities as a member of the Dean's Council to Columbia Law School, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Baruch College.  In May 2006, he was presented with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his many and varied contributions to Baruch College.  In June 2009, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of The Supreme Court Historical Society, a prestigious non-profit organization committed to preserving the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Berger has also been selected as an Advisor to the American Law Institute, Restatement Third of Torts, and he currently serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia Law School's Center on Corporate Governance.  Additionally, Mr. Berger has taught Profession of Law, an ethics course at Columbia.

Mr. Berger is a past chairman of the Commercial Litigation Section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now known as the American Association For Justice) and lectures for numerous professional organizations.  In 1997, Mr. Berger was honored for his outstanding contribution to the public interest by Trial Lawyers For Public Justice, where he was a "Trial Lawyer of the Year" Finalist for his work in Roberts, et al. v. Texaco, the celebrated race discrimination case, on behalf of Texaco's African-American employees.

Among numerous charitable and volunteer works, Mr. Berger is an active supporter of City Year New York, a division of AmeriCorps, dedicated to encouraging young people to devote time to public service.  In July 2005, he was named City Year New York’s "Idealist of the Year," for his long-time service and work in the community.  He and his wife, Dale, have also established the Dale and Max Berger Public Interest Law Fellowship at Columbia Law School and the Max W. Berger Pre-Law Program at Baruch College.