Steven Berk is Of Counsel to Ruddy Law and brings twenty plus years of litigation experience to the firm. Throughout his career, Mr. Berk has counseled clients in SEC litigated claims involving securities fraud and represented clients before various administrative agencies regulating the securities industry including FINRA, SEC and the CFTC.
Mr. Berk served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney ("AUSA") for the District of Columbia from 1990-1994. As a federal prosecutor, he was lead trial counsel in over twenty-five jury trials in the Federal District Court and Superior Court for the District of Columbia. He also prepared and presented several appellate cases before the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, as well as conducted numerous investigations and cases to state and federal grand juries. He focused during his tenure as an AUSA on prosecuting economic crimes and was recognized and awarded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his work in connection with the investigation, indictment and convictions of several individuals who embezzled millions from a District of Columbia based pension fund.
Mr. Berk also served as a Trial Attorney for the SEC in the Office of the General Counsel. In that position, he prosecuted cases against professionals (accountants and attorneys) practicing before the SEC under Rule 2(e) and represented the SEC in federal court on a number of administrative matters.
After his tenure in the government, Mr. Berk became a partner in the District of Columbia office of Jenner & Block (“Jenner”), an Am Law top 100 law firm with over 500 lawyers. Jenner is consistently recognized as having one of the leading litigation practices in the country. At Jenner, he was lead trial counsel in a number of commercial cases in federal and state courts. His substantive expertise includes federal and state regulatory issues, antitrust litigation and counseling; internal corporate investigations; and white-collar criminal defense. He also spearheaded a successful nationwide litigation and legislative campaign to enable Certified Public Accountants to concurrently serve as Certified Financial Planners and sell securities to their clients. In doing so, he became a recognized expert on ethical and conflict of interest rules governing the accounting profession.
Mr. Berk is a member of the District of Columbia and Illinois Bars. He is currently a standing member of the District of Columbia Judicial Evaluation Committee. He has been admitted to practice before several federal district and circuit courts across the country and is a member of the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.
He graduated magna cum laude from Boston College School of Law where he served as Managing Editor of the Law Review. He earned a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics in International Relations and an A.B. with honors from Washington University.
