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About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is a full-spectrum class action and complex civil litigation firm, with nationally known attorneys highly sought after for their legal skills. The firm has been recognized by courts throughout the country for its ability and experience in handling major complex litigation, particularly in the fields of antitrust, securities, mass torts, civil and human rights, whistleblower cases, employment, and consumer litigation.  In numerous precedent-setting cases, the firm has played a principal or lead role.

The National Law Journal, which recognizes a select group of law firms each year that have done “exemplary, cutting-edge work on the plaintiffs side,” has selected Berger Montague in 12 out of the last 14 years (2003-05, 2007-13, 2015-16) for its “Hot List” of top plaintiffs’ oriented litigation firms in the United States. The firm has also achieved the highest possible rating by its peers and opponents as reported in Martindale-Hubbell, and was ranked as a 2018 “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News - Best Lawyers.

Currently, the firm consists of 63 lawyers; 18 paralegals; and an experienced support staff.  Few firms in the United States have our breadth of practice and match our successful track record in such a broad array of complex litigation.

History of the Firm

Berger Montague was founded in 1970 by the late David Berger to concentrate on the representation of plaintiffs in a series of antitrust class actions.  David Berger helped pioneer the use of class actions in antitrust litigation and was instrumental in extending the use of the class action procedure to other litigation areas, including securities, employment discrimination, civil and human rights, and mass torts.  The firm’s complement of nationally recognized lawyers has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in these and other areas, and has recovered billions of dollars for its clients.  In complex litigation, particularly in areas of class action litigation, Berger Montague has established new law and forged the path for recovery.

The firm has been involved in a series of notable cases, some of them among the most important in the last 40 years of civil litigation.  For example, the firm was one of the principal counsel for plaintiffs in the Drexel Burnham Lambert/Michael Milken securities and bankruptcy litigation.  Claimants in these cases recovered approximately $2 billion in the aftermath of the collapse of the junk bond market and the bankruptcy of Drexel in the late 1980’s.  The firm was also among the principal trial counsel in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill litigation in Anchorage, Alaska, a trial resulting in a record jury award of $5 billion against Exxon, later reduced by the U.S. Supreme Court to $507.5 million.  Berger Montague was lead counsel in the School Asbestos Litigation, in which a national class of secondary and elementary schools recovered in excess of $200 million to defray the costs of asbestos abatement.  The case was the first mass tort property damage class action certified on a national basis.  Berger Montague was also lead/liaison counsel in the Three Mile Island Litigation arising out of a serious nuclear incident.

Additionally, in the human rights area, the firm, through its membership on the executive committee in the Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation, helped to achieve a $1.25 billion settlement with the largest Swiss banks on behalf of victims of Nazi aggression whose deposits were not returned after the Second World War.  The firm also played an instrumental role in bringing about a $4.37 billion settlement with German industry and government for the use of slave and forced labor during the Holocaust.