John W Berry

Practice Areas

John Berry is a former senior SEC official and an experienced litigator with over 25 years of experience in both government and private practice.

He focuses on white collar defense and investigations, internal investigations and securities-related and other high stakes commercial litigation, including bankruptcy litigation.

Before joining Munger Tolles, John served almost 10 years in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, co-supervising the enforcement staff in the SEC’s Los Angeles regional office and, before that, supervising the office’s trial unit.

During his career at the SEC and in private practice, John first chaired a $130 million insider trading jury trial to verdict, litigated 26 cases to summary judgment and argued more than 45 dispositive motions and appeals in federal and state trial and appellate courts. He has also represented companies or boards in 14 internal investigations.

John is ranked by Chambers USA 2024-2026 USA Guides in White Collar Crime and Government Investigations Litigation and in the peer reviewed The Best Lawyers in America 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions for his white-collar securities defense work, which features the top 5-6% of lawyers in the nation across 150 practice areas. John has also been included in the Securities Docket’s “Enforcement Elite” list of the best securities enforcement defense counsel in 2024 and 2025.

In his free time, John enjoys skiing and golf.