Bever, Thomas D.

Lawrence Bernfeld, a partner of Graubard Miller, leads the firm's employment practice and is a member of the firm's Executive Committee.  His diverse experience encompasses corporate transactions and counseling, employment, entertainment, investment funds and intellectual property matters, and complex corporate, commercial, real estate, and securities litigation.  Mr. Bernfeld’s trial and appellate work enables him to offer significant insights when analyzing risk in matters involving business plans, corporate documents, employment, investment funds, intellectual property, and real estate.  His extensive counseling background, in turn, helps him identify business solutions in the context of litigation involving a broad range of corporate, commercial, employment, intellectual property, and real estate matters.

Mr. Bernfeld provides guidance in the employment law arena on issues relating to disabilities, discrimination, fair credit reporting, family and medical leave, fair labor standards, health care, and other government programs and requirements. Working with senior executives and directors of human resources, he develops and refines personnel policies, procedures, manuals, and training programs, and prepares agreements to govern terms of employment, including restrictive covenants, and to protect against inappropriate disclosure of trade secrets and confidential information. Implementing a cross-disciplinary approach, Mr. Bernfeld offers early-stage advice to help clients achieve favorable positions when they anticipate employment litigation.

Mr. Bernfeld in his transactional work focuses on mergers and acquisitions, distressed assets, hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital.  He counsels clients regarding business plan development, confidentiality and non-compete arrangements, distribution agreements, executive employment and stock option agreements, change of control, termination, and severance agreements, entertainment contracts, secured financing, information technology, investment fund, intellectual property, licensing, partnership, and joint venture agreements.

Mr. Bernfeld's litigation experience encompasses mediation, trials, and appeals in matters involving business appraisals and dissolution, class actions, contract and commercial disputes, cooperative corporations and condominiums, derivative suits, employment, entertainment, intellectual property, internal corporate investigations,  publishing, real estate, and securities and futures industry matters.  His work takes him into venues that include Federal and State courts, EEOC mediation, and FINRA and AAA arbitration.

BusinessNewsDaily.com quoted Mr. Bernfeld in an article entitled "Is That Legal? Facebook, Background Checks & Drug Tests."  The New York Law Journal in several lead articles has reported on significant litigation results Mr. Bernfeld has achieved.  Other publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal also have featured his cases.

Mr. Bernfeld has given bar association and law school lectures on trial practice, mediation, and securities arbitration.  His article on "Class Actions and Federal Securities Laws" has been published in the Cornell Law Review and the Securities Law Review.  He has served as a member of the Committee on Futures Regulation of the New York City Bar Association.  He also is a member of the Federal Bar Council and the Private Investment Subcommittee of the Securities Regulation Committee of the New York State Bar Association.

Mr. Bernfeld is AV® PreeminentTM Martindale Hubbell Peer Review rated.