'Berman Will Be Fine': Some Think Spat Might Help Ex-US Attorney's Career Prospects
Recruiting a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is an attractive prospect for a lot of law firms, even if that lawyer just had a high-profile fight with the attorney general, several observers said.
June 22, 2020 at 05:51 PM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on New York Law Journal
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.
|Read More:
Geoffrey Berman Resigns as Manhattan US Attorney, Ending Standoff With William Barr
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllTrump Picks Personal Criminal Defense Lawyers for Solicitor General, Deputy Attorney General
'Health Care Behemoth'?: DOJ Seeks Injunction Blocking $3.3B UnitedHealth Merger Proposal
3 minute readFreshfields Hires DOJ Official, Squire Taps Paul Hastings Atty for US Antitrust Head
3 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1US Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd Confirmed to 11th Circuit
- 2Shaq Signs $11 Million Settlement to Resolve Astrals Investor Claims
- 3McCormick Consolidates Two Tesla Chancery Cases
- 4Amazon, SpaceX Press Constitutional Challenges to NLRB at 5th Circuit
- 5Schools Win Again: Social Media Fails to Strike Public Nuisance Claims
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250