Berkman, Sam

Bruce Berman is a partner in the firm's Securities and Litigation/Controversy Departments. He is a member of the Business Trial Group and the Investigations and Criminal Litigation and Securities Litigation and Enforcement Practice Groups. He joined the firm in 1978.

Mr. Berman has spent his professional career as a litigator at WilmerHale. He is one of the most experienced lawyers in the country in the area of standardized educational testing. He has handled numerous cases involving the use of standardized tests in educational and employment settings, including class actions challenging the accuracy of licensing and admission test scores, copyright infringement litigation, and test security cases. Mr. Berman also represents clients in the financial services and consumer products industries.

Practice

Mr. Berman has long served as principal external counsel for Educational Testing Service. He has handled a wide variety of matters for ETS and other test publishers and test sponsors. Mr. Berman is currently defending nationwide class actions brought by test takers claiming to have lost educational, scholarship or employment opportunities as a result of erroneous test scores. Mr. Berman also defends class actions for consumer products and financial services companies. 

Another major part of Mr. Berman's practice involves conducting internal corporate investigations of companies alleged to have engaged in accounting, manufacturing and procurement fraud, insider trading and failure to comply with regulatory requirements.

Recent Highlights

Mr. Berman has recently conducted internal corporate investigations, in the United States and Europe, of leading companies in the financial services, insurance, grocery and wholesale food, and commercial aviation businesses.

In a case that drew national and international attention, Mr. Berman successfully represented pro bono an Alabama prisoner sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. As a result of Mr. Berman's efforts, the prisoner was released from prison after being incarcerated for nearly 30 years.

Mr. Berman was a principal draftsman of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act, which limited the liability of vaccine manufacturers and increased the likelihood of compensation for people claiming vaccine-related injuries.

Professional Activities

Mr. Berman previously served on the American Bar Association Litigation Section's Federal Practice Task Force.