Biography

Eric L. Cramer is the Chairman of Berger Montague, one of the oldest and most respected complex litigation law firms in the U.S., headquartered in Philadelphia with seven additional offices across the U.S. and Canada. He co-chairs the Firm’s antitrust department, and leads multiple antitrust class actions around the United States—including representing mixed martial arts fighters against the UFC; broiler chicken growers against major chicken integrator companies securing $169 million in settlements to date; the City of Asheville and health plans against HCA/Mission Hospital alleging monopolization; current and former students of seventeen elite universities charging those universities with colluding to suppress financial aid, and securing $284 million in settlements to date; Ivy League athletes alleging that the Ivy League has colluded to block athletic scholarships; and internet publishers against Google in a massive antitrust class action. Throughout his thirty-year career, he has secured settlements for his clients totaling well over $3 billion. 

Mr. Cramer has been recognized by Chambers USA for over 20 years, most recently noting that our clients find that “Eric is a top-notch lawyer.” Chambers has also noted that “He excels in economic analysis. He is a real leader;” and that he has “a great presence in court and at trial,” and is at the “[t]op of the profession; a phenomenal lawyer who is an expert on economics.” Law360 named Mr. Cramer a Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar. The Legal 500 has recognized him in their Hall of Fame, which recognizes lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work. He was identified as a “Distinguished Leader” by The Legal Intelligencer and as a “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers. Public Justice honored Mr. Cramer with their Champion of Justice award for his body of work supporting access to justice. And The National Law Journal awarded Mr. Cramer the Keith Givens Visionary Award, which was developed to honor an outstanding trial lawyer who has moved the legal industry forward. He has won the American Antitrust Institute’s Antitrust Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice several times for his work in three different antitrust class actions: In re Capacitors Antitrust Litig. (N.D. Cal.), In re Broilers Antitrust Litig. (E.D. Okl.), and Castro v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc. (D.N.J.). Mr. Cramer’s work in In re Capacitors was also recognized by Public Justice in nominating that case as a finalist for its prestigious trial lawyer of the year award in 2024.

Mr. Cramer is a long-time board member and former President of Public Justice is on the advisory board of the American Antitrust Institute; and is a former President of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL).

Mr. Cramer has also written widely in the fields of class certification and antitrust law. Among other writings, Mr. Cramer has co-authored Antitrust, Class Certification, and the Politics of Procedure, 17 George Mason Law Review 4 (2010), which was cited by both the First Circuit in In re Nexium Antitrust Litig., 777 F.3d 9, 27 (1st Cir. 2015), and the Third Circuit in Behrend v. Comcast Corp., 655 F.3d 182, 200, n.10 (3d Cir. 2011).

Mr. Cramer is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School with a J.D. Mr. Cramer lives in Philadelphia; is married to a wonderful woman; has two incredible fully-grown children; and is managed by two somewhat friendly cats.

Professional Leadership

  • Senior Fellow and Former Director of the American Antitrust Institute
  • Member of the Board of Directors and Past President of Public Justice (Formerly Trial Lawyers for Public Justice)
  • Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Consumer & Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago School of Law
  • Frequent speaker at antitrust and class action conferences around the country

Business and Community Leadership

  • Business and Community Leadership.
  • Cramer is active in community affairs, specifically those involving public education:
  • Co-founder, and past President of the Board of Trustees of the Independence Charter School, for which he also acted as pro bono litigation counsel
  • Member of the Board of the Ayer Condominium Association
  • Board Member of the Economy League of Philadelphia
  • Former Member of the Board of the Center for Literacy (one of largest non-profit adult literacy organizations in the country)
  • Former Chair of the Board of EducationVotersPA, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting issues concerning public education in Pennsylvania

Prominent Judgments and Settlements

  • In re Domestic Drywall Antitrust Litig., 13-md-2437 (E.D. Pa.) (settled in 2018 for over $190 million)
  • Castro, et al. v. Sanofi Pasteur Inc., Civil Action No. 2:11-cv-07178-JMV-MAH (D.N.J.) (settled in 2017 for $61.5 million)
  • United States ex rel. Dr. Joseph Piacentile v. Amgen Inc., CA No. 04-2511(E.D.N.Y.) (qui tam matter settled in 2015 for an undisclosed amount)
  • Marchbanks Truck Service Inc., et al. v. Comdata Network, Inc. et al., No. 07-1078 (E.D. Pa.) (settled in 2014 for $130 million plus valuable prospective relief)
  • In re TriCor Antitrust Litig., No. 02‑1512 (D. Del.) (settled in 2009 for $250 million)
  • In re Ovcon 35 Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1747 (D.D.C.) (Settled in 2008 for $22 million)
  • In re Terazosin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1317 (S.D. Fla. 2005) (settled in 2005 for $74.5 million)
  • In re Remeron Antitrust Litig., No.03‑0085 (D.N.J. 2003) (Settled in 2005 for $75 million)
  • In re Relafen Antitrust Litig., No. 01-12239-WGY (D. Mass. 2003) (Settled in 2004 for $175 million)
  • In re Buspirone Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1410 (S.D.N.Y.) (Settled in 2003 for $220 million)
  • In re Cardizem CD Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 1278 (E.D. Mich.) (Settled in 2002 for $110 million)
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Honors & Awards

  • Named one of the Top 10 Influential Antitrust Plaintiffs Shaping US Law: Nation’s Legal Titans by Business Today 2023
  • “Distinguished Leaders” by The Legal Intelligencer 2023
  • 2022 “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers The Legal Intelligencer Class Action Litigation Department of the Year (Finalist) 2022
    Named a 2020-2022 Global Elite Thought Leader by Who’s Who Legal
  • Recognized by the 2022 Best Lawyers in Antitrust, Commercial Litigation, Consumer Protection, and Philadelphia “Lawyer of the Year”
  • Named a Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer (2019 – 2020), and 2022
  • Recipient of The National Law Journal‘s 2019 Keith Givens Visionary Award
  • Named 2018 Philadelphia Antitrust “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers
  • Named to The Legal 500‘s Leading Lawyers List for Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions in the United States annually since 2011
  • Repeatedly selected by Chambers USA to America’s Leading Business Lawyers as one of Pennsylvania’s top antitrust lawyers
  • Repeatedly deemed one of the “Best Lawyers in America”
  • Super Lawyers: 2005 – 2022
  • Named a 2020 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360
  • Selected as one of the top 100 lawyers in Philadelphia by Philadelphia Magazine in 2018 and 2014
  • 2017 American Antitrust Institute’s Antitrust Enforcement Award for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice for Castro v. Sanofi Pasteur, Inc.
  • 2014 American Antitrust Institute Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Honorable Mention for Marchbanks Truck Service Inc. et al. v. Comdata Network, Inc. et al.
  • American Antitrust Institute Honorable Mention in 2014 for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law
  • Selected by Lawdragon as a “Rising Star” and “Antitrust Ace”

Publications

Admissions

  • Member – Pennsylvania Bar
  • Member – New York Bar
  • Admitted – Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Admitted – Second Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Third Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals