Berger Singerman

Chairman Emeritus: Mitchell W Berger

Co-Chair: James L. Berger

Co-Chair: Paul Steven Singerman

Managing Partner: Jordi Guso

Firm Overview:

From its offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando and the state capital of Tallahassee, Berger Singerman serves an international client base with respect to matters involving Florida issues. Attorneys are widely recognized as among the best in their field by independent third party sources, and many have held prestigious positions in industry, in the legal community and in public service. The firm distinguishes itself not by the size of its firm, but by its passion for client service. The firm recognizes the need to create value for its clients, by resolving a dispute that is impacting a business, by finding a way to get a ‘stuck’ transaction done, by resolving an issue with an agency, etc. The firm understands that its ultimate responsibility is to assist clients to enhance their income, or reduce their expenses. It serves three primary markets: leading companies, successful individuals, and other law firms.

Leading Companies:

The firm assists clients in creating competitive advantage. Clients undoubtedly face significant, if not severe, competition. The challenge of owners, senior managers and directors is to position the clients’ company to create and maintain competitive advantage. Lawyers are experienced at working with owners, senior managers and directors.

Successful Individuals:

Berger Singerman services relationships with business executives, entrepreneurs, professionals, and other wealthy individuals. Whereas most law firms make serving big businesses their priority, Berger Singerman also focuses on the individuals who manage the large corporations or are building tomorrow’s successful businesses. Working with leading independent investment and business advisors, the firm assists individuals in building and protecting their wealth through every stage of their life. Recognizing that the needs of individuals change as they mature, the firm has lawyers focused on the challenges at each stage of one’s life

Other Law Firms:

The foundation of the firm is the referral work that it does for law firms from around the world. Law firms of all size honor the firm by their referral of their most important clients when special counsel, conflict counsel, or Florida counsel is needed. Referring law firms tell Berger Singerman that they refer matters to it because: its attorneys are recognized as among the very best in the market as evidenced by the percentage honored by independent sources; most attorneys practiced at large national firms or leading regional firms before making the personal decision to join it to enjoy the firm’s unique collaborative culture; attorneys respect the firm’s commitment to strategically limit its practice to areas where it is among the very best in the market area; and referring attorneys appreciate its commitment to enhancing client relationships through the substantive quality of the firm’s legal work and commitment to providing excellent service for clients.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business Reorganization:

The size, depth and international reputation of its business reorganization team distinguish Berger Singerman. Berger Singerman has one of the largest business reorganization practice groups in the region and its members are consistently involved in the most significant business bankruptcy cases and out of court workouts in the region. The team represents business debtors, creditors’ committees, trade creditors, institutional and non-institutional secured creditors and lessors, court appointed trustees, receivers and assignees for the benefit of creditors. The team also represents strategic and financial investors in a variety of insolvency-related merger and acquisition engagements, including acquisition of distressed businesses, divisions, assets and intellectual property of such businesses.

Dispute Resolution:

The dispute resolution team handles a wide variety of complex commercial disputes in federal and state courts and alternative dispute resolution engagements throughout Florida and across the United States. The team has handled multi-million dollar class action disputes and lender liability cases. The team represents regional, national and international clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to entrepreneurs. Team members bring specialized expertise in business torts such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, theft of trade secrets, insurance and tortious interference with business relationships, and contracts, to support more aggressive theories and recoveries in this area. The team also features specialized expertise in intellectual property, employment law and non-compete cases and regularly handles employment termination cases, noncompete and other covenant enforcement actions, and various other claims employees assert.

Government & Regulatory:

Berger Singerman’s government and regulatory team represents a variety of private and public sector clients in regulatory matters before federal, state, regional and local agencies. The members of the team have had meaningful involvement in shaping the landscape of environmental and land use law in Florida during their long and distinguished careers. In addition, the members are recognized as leaders in the fields of healthcare regulation, energy, waste management, governmental procurement, bid protests and white-collar crime prevention.

Business, Finance & Tax:

Berger Singerman’s business, finance and tax team represents corporate and individual clients in sophisticated international, domestic and foreign transactions. The firm’s business, finance and tax team possesses expertise in corporate, securities, real estate, financing, healthcare, technology, intellectual property, aviation and tax matters. The business, finance and tax team attorneys bring multi-disciplinary legal expertise to structure, negotiate, document and close complex business transactions. Most of the business, finance and tax team’s attorneys practice across the traditional legal boundaries of corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate, financing and tax. The team utilizes a cross-disciplinary approach — tax partners often structure, negotiate, and handle an entire business deal, rather than merely the ‘tax portion’ of a transaction — the real estate attorneys have significant experience with complex corporate structuring and transactions, employment agreements and other business agreements — and most of the business, finance and tax team’s lawyers are experienced in transactions which are implemented within a bankruptcy case. By using all the expertise of attorneys familiar with many legal disciplines, the business, finance and tax team delivers more effective legal representation in a cost-effective manner.