Scott M. Berman
Scott M. Berman has a varied complex securities and commercial litigation practice. He represents large institutional investors, funds of funds, investment advisors, and wealthy individuals in securities and fraud litigations involving hedge funds and their auditors, administrators, prime brokers, and other professionals (e.g., Madoff feeder funds, Lancer, Beacon Hill, Lipper, Livingston, Granite, Manhattan). He also represents hedge fund receivers and liquidators (e.g., Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited (in Liquidation) and Beacon Hill) as well as hedge fund investors in bankruptcy and receivership proceedings (e.g., Bayou, Wood River) and institutional investors that opt out of class actions. Mr. Berman also represents hedge funds, large companies, officers and directors, and high net worth individuals in federal and state courts, and in arbitrations in jurisdictions across the country. He has also litigated numerous bankruptcy matters on behalf of creditors, equity holders, and debtors. In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Berman counsels hedge funds, funds of funds, and investment managers.
Among other things, Mr. Berman currently is representing investors that lost many millions of dollars in Madoff feeder funds in litigation against the funds' manager, parent, and auditor, the liquidators of the failed Carlyle Capital Corporation hedge fund in litigation against various Carlyle entities, and purchasers of CDs in Stanford International Bank, Ltd. in litigation against its correspondent banks. He has obtained favorable settlements on behalf of investors who lost many millions of dollars in the Granite, Manhattan, Beacon Hill, and Lancer hedge funds.
Other recent representations include the defense of a public company and its president in a class action and SEC investigation; defending against guaranty claims asserted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; defending two large hedge funds in a dispute with investors over the liquidation of their assets; representing partners in partnership disputes; commencing and defending against fraudulent conveyance actions; and commencing arbitrations against broker-dealers on behalf of former high-level employees and defrauded investors.
Mr. Berman is frequently quoted in the financial press on hedge fund-related issues. His many speaking engagements have included a July 2010 appearance at a Hedge Fund Accounting, Auditing and Administration Conference sponsored by Financial Research Associates, where he spoke about "Avoiding Litigation in a Post-Madoff World; " two appearances at 2009 Madoff & Ponzi Scheme Litigation Conferences presented by HB Litigation Conferences; "Meeting Investor Demands While Protecting Strategies" at the 2008 Hedge Fund Risk Management Conference; "Hedge Fund Due Diligence for Private Investors" at the 2008 Annual Wealth Management Forum sponsored y Institutional Investor Events; "Avoiding the Perils of Operational Oversight: What Can Be Learned From the Latest Fund Failures and Lawsuits" at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Hedge Fund Business Operations Association; "Case Study of Hedge Fund Blowup" at the 2006 MARHedge Cayman conference on Hedge Fund Best Practices; "Hedge Fund Symposium" at the 2006 Securities Forum hosted by the Connecticut Department of Banking, Securities and Business Investments; and "Enforcement/Fraud Concerns" at the 2003 SEC Hedge Fund Roundtable. He also is a frequent lecturer on federal practice at bar association programs.
Mr. Berman is the author of "Non-Party Discovery," Litigation (Summer 1997); a co-author of the New York County Lawyers' Association Report on the Federal Study Committee's Recommendation to Abolish Diversity Jurisdiction, 158 F.R.D. 185 (1994); and the principal author of the New York County Lawyers' Association Report on Pretrial Orders (1989). He is a member of the Committee on Securities Litigation of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, and a past Chair of the Committee on Federal Courts of the New York County Lawyers' Association. He is also a member of the New York City Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the New York State Bar Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York County Lawyers' Association and currently serves as one of the association's delegates to the New York State Bar House of Delegates.
Mr. Berman has been selected for inclusion by Law & Politics in Super Lawyers® 2012 New York Edition for having attained the highest degree of peer recognition and professional achievement in the multiphase Super Lawyers selection process which includes, among other factors, peer evaluations. Mr. Berman also received this designation in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Mr. Berman graduated from Emory University in 1979 and received his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1982. Prior to joining Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP, he was a partner at Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP in New York. Mr. Berman is also admitted in the District of Columbia.
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