Harold Berger

Biography

Harold Berger is Of Counsel & Executive Shareholder Emeritus.

Judge Berger participated in many complex litigation matters, including the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, No. A89-095, in which he served on the case management committee and as Co-Chair of the national discovery team.  He also participated in the Three Mile Island Litigation, No. 79-0432 (M.D. Pa.), where he acted as liaison counsel, and in the nationwide school asbestos property damage class action, In re Asbestos School Litigation, Master File No. 83-0268 (E.D. Pa.), where the firm served as co-lead counsel.

A former Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, he has long given his service to the legal community and the judiciary.  He is also active in law and engineering alumni affairs at the University of Pennsylvania and in other philanthropic endeavors.  He serves as a member of Penn’s Board of Overseers and as Chair of the Friends of Penn’s Biddle Law Library, having graduated from both the engineering and law schools at Penn. Judge Berger also serves on the Executive Board of Penn Law’s Center for Ethics and Rule of Law. In 2017, he was the recipient of Penn Law’s Inaugural Lifetime Commitment Award, which recognizes graduates “who through a lifetime of service and commitment to Penn Law have truly set a new standard of excellence.”

He is past Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s National Committee on the Federal and State Judiciary and past President of the Federal Bar Association’s Eastern District Chapter.  He is the author of numerous law review articles, has lectured extensively before bar associations and at universities, and has served as Chair of the International Conferences on Global Interdependence held at Princeton University.  Judge Berger has served as Chair of the Aerospace Law Committees of the American, Federal and Inter-American Bar Associations and, in recognition of the importance and impact of his scholarly work, was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics in Paris.

As his biographies in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law and Who’s Who in the World outline, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Special Service Award of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, a Special American Bar Association Presidential Program Award and Medal, and a Special Federal Bar Association Award for distinguished service to the Federal and State Judiciary.  He has been given the highest rating (AV Preeminent) for legal ability as well as the highest rating for ethical standards by Martindale-Hubbell. Judge Berger was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 by The Legal Intelligencer in recognition of figures who have helped shape the law in Pennsylvania and who had a distinct impact on the legal profession in the Commonwealth.

He is a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and has served as Chair of both the Judicial Liaison and International Law Committees of the Philadelphia Bar Association.  He has also served as National Chair of the FBA’s Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee.

Recipient of the Alumnus of the Year Award of the Thomas McKean Law Club of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he was further honored by the University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science by the dedication of the Harold Berger Biennial Distinguished Lecture and Award given to a technical innovator who has made a lasting contribution to the quality of our lives.  He was also honored by the University by the dedication of an auditorium and lobby bearing his name and by the dedication of a student award in his name for engineering excellence.

Long active in diverse, philanthropic, charitable, community and inter-faith endeavors Judge Berger serves as a Lifetime Honorary Trustee of the Federation of Jewish Charities of Greater Philadelphia, as a Director of the National Museum of Jewish History, as a National Director of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in its endeavors to assist refugees and indigent souls of all faiths, as A Charter Fellow of the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association and as a member of the Hamilton Circle of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.

Among other honors and awards, as listed above, Judge Berger was honored by the University of Pennsylvania Law School at its annual Benefactors’ Dinner and is the recipient of the “Children of the American Dream” award of HIAS for his leadership in the civic, legal, academic and Jewish communities.