Elizabeth Berney joined the Firm as Of Counsel in 2005 and is a member of the Securities Fraud/Investor Protection practice group. Her work includes securities fraud class actions in federal courts throughout the country, including the Parmalat litigation in New York, and other class actions on behalf of shareholders, including the In re Yahoo! Inc., Takeover Litigation and the Mattel Lead Paint derivative case. For several of the firm's securities fraud cases, Ms. Berney has also led the investigations of witnesses which uncovered fraudulent activities.
Ms. Berney is the co-author of Restoring Investor Trust in Auditing Standards and Accounting Principles, published in the Harvard Journal of Legislation (Winter 2004). She also has written extensive materials for legal seminars and speeches. She served as a guest lecturer for a Cardozo Law School ethics class and a guest lecturer for a Harvard Law School corporations class regarding securities fraud, was a featured speaker and panelist for the Women’s National Book Association, and appeared in a German television documentary. She is a member of the Federal Bar Council.
Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Ms. Berney was an active member of the plaintiffs’ legal teams in leading securities fraud, consumer, and human rights class actions including the Enron and Xerox shareholder litigations, the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tire litigation, and the Holocaust Assets cases. From 2000-2005, Ms. Berney practiced law at another prominent plaintiffs’ class action firm. Previously, she worked at Dewey Ballantine in the tax and municipal bonds fields, where she obtained the rulings needed to finance construction of the Intrepid Museum; at Gilbert Segall and Young (now part of Holland & Knight), where she focused on foreign sovereign immunities and general commercial litigation; as in-house counsel for a college; and in her own legal and literary practice, where she negotiated agreements for computer companies and notable authors.
Ms. Berney is an avid amateur violinist. She played violin in the Chicago Civic Orchestra while in law school, and, more recently, has played in COSMOS (the Chamber Orchestra of Science and Medicine). She currently plays first violin in the New York City Bar Association Lawyers’ Orchestra.
Ms. Berney is a graduate of Cornell University, where she earned a B.S. in industrial and labor relations with a minor in music (with honors, 1975), and the University of Chicago Law School (J.D., 1978).
Ms. Berney is currently running for U.S. Congress in the 5th Congressional District of New York.
Ms. Berney is admitted to practice in New York and Pennsylvania.
Contact: eberney@cmht.com
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