Judge Berman has been a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York since November 1998, taking senior status in 2011. He received a B.S. degree from Cornell University in 1964, a J.D. degree in 1967 from N.Y.U. School of Law, and a M.S.W. in May of 1996 from the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. He received a Diploma of Comparative Law in 1968 and a Diploma of International Law in 1970 from the University of Stockholm Faculty of Law.
Judge Berman was an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1970 to 1974, and served as the Executive Assistant to United States Senator Jacob K. Javits from 1974 to 1978. In 1978, he became General Counsel to Warner Cable Corporation (and to MTV Networks Inc. in 1984). In 1986, he became a member of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and served as managing partner of LeBoeuf Lamb’s Los Angeles office from 1989 to 1991. From May 1995 until his appointment as a Federal District Judge, he served as a New York State Family Court Judge for Queens County.
Judge Berman has lectured on the “Rule of Law” and the “Independence of the Judiciary” in Istanbul, Turkey (2014) and Tirana, Albania (2013). He is the author of “A Team Model to Identify Child Abuse,” “Seven Steps to Protect Children,” and “Community Service for Juvenile Offenders,” published in the New York Law Journal. Judge Berman serves as Chairman of the Southern District’s Media Relations and Magistrate Judges Committees and is a member of the Southern District’s Clerk’s Office, and Mediation Services Committees. He is a member of the New York State-Federal Council and the New York County Lawyers’ Association Family Court Task Force. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School and as a member of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children.
