U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman announces that two foreign-born associates of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have been indicted in Manhattan federal court on campaign-finance charges. Photo: David Handschuh/NYLJ

Geoffrey Berman may be out of a job following his very public spat with the U.S. Attorney General William Barr over the weekend, but not many people believe he'll have any trouble finding work.

That's because Berman was already an attractive candidate to many law firms, given his experience as a Greenberg Traurig shareholder and then serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to legal consultants and one former Manhattan prosecutor.

"There's no question that Berman will be fine, and he would have been fine even if this hadn't happened," said Elkan Abramowitz, a former prosecutor who is a partner at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello.

Berman resigned June 20 following a daylong standoff between him and the Justice Department. Barr late June 19 announced that Berman was resigning immediately; Berman denied he had resigned and said he would stay on.

If anything, the standoff potentially enhanced Berman's standing in certain legal circles, said Abramowitz and Dan Binstock, a legal recruiter at Garrison & Sisson. Because of the heavy volume of turnover that has occurred within the Trump administration, being dismissed by the president doesn't carry the same weight as it would have in the Obama administration, Binstock said.

"The overall sentiment in the legal market is that when an attorney leaves the Trump administration, there are usually multiple sides of the story," Binstock said. "In some circles, this could be seen as a net benefit to his brand, in the law firm market."

Berman began serving as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan in 2017 after President Donald Trump fired his predecessor, Preet Bharara. In 2018, Berman was voted into the post by the judges of the Southern District of New York.

Prior to that, he was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig who co-led its New Jersey office. Berman reported earning about $3.5 million in salary and bonus at Greenberg Traurig, according to his financial disclosure form.

A spokeswoman for Greenberg Traurig declined to comment on whether Berman would return to the firm.

Lauren Drake, a Washington, D.C.-based legal recruiter with Mlegal Group, noted that Berman's dismissal from the administration is rooted in politics, as opposed to accusations of wrongdoing or misconduct. Government lawyers who have been dismissed for wrongdoing have a harder time finding jobs at law firms, Drake said.

"I imagine he's got plenty of firms calling him right now," Drake said.

Drake doesn't believe Berman's resignation will affect how attractive he already was to law firms. If anything, his resignation June 20 was "a very public announcement that the person is unemployed." Drake contrasted this with her usual work: Having confidential conversations with government officials about potentially entering the private sector over the course of many months.

By way of example, Drake pointed to Munger, Tolles & Olson's Monday announcement that it had hired Jonathan Kravis, a federal prosecutor who quit in protest after Barr intervened in the sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone.

"That's an example of somebody who had a very public departure from government," Drake said. "Clearly he didn't have any trouble landing at an excellent firm."

One high-ranking commercial litigator said he doesn't believe the spat helped anyone, including Berman. He said law firms might be reluctant to bring on Berman if they do a lot of business with the government. Abramowitz, Binstock and Drake conceded while that might be the case for some firms, it's not likely to be a significant number of firms, they said.

"Most of the litigation departments of the firms in New York have alumni of the Southern District. There is a strong alumni bond. I would be surprised if he could not land on his feet," Abramowitz said.

One of Berman's former clients at Greenberg Traurig was Deutsche Bank, a financial institution that is being investigated for its financial ties to the president. If he returns to private practice, former prosecutors like Berman are subject to a whole host of rules regarding what cases and clients they can and can't work with, Abramowitz said. Still, law firms like to tout former prosecutors and judges to their clients like they're star members of the team, he added.

It's for that reason that Barr would also be an attractive get for certain firms, Abramowitz said.

"If Barr left tomorrow, there would be firms that would want to hire him, too," Abramowitz said.

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