About

"We pride ourselves on delivering the right resources to our clients and other professional service firms to solve any problem effectively and efficiently, and to realize any opportunity.” Mitchell W. Berger, Co-Chair

Florida’s Business Law Firm

With approximately 100 attorneys and offices in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Tallahassee, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, Berger Singerman serves a diverse client base with a Florida focus and international scope. We practice throughout the U.S. and frequently handle matters in Europe, Asia and South America.

We limit our practice to areas in which our peers and credible third-party evaluators recognize us among the very best in Florida. We pride ourselves on our ability to deliver creative, effective and passionate client service to resolve any problem and to take advantage of any opportunity.

Serving the needs of successful individuals in advancing their business interests, as well as in building and preserving their wealth, forms the strong foundation for our practice. We are proud of the depth of expertise of our legal teams, who primarily focus on individuals and families. We work closely with financial advisors, law firms, accountants and trust companies to assist our clients in achieving their financial and philanthropic goals and endeavor to provide legal competitive advantages for their businesses.

Referral matters form a substantial part of our Firm’s practice. When other law firms have conflicts, need in-depth knowledge of Florida law, or require special expertise, they honor us by trusting us with their clients. We put our reputation on the line through our referrals, including two global networks of leading law firms: TAGLaw and Lexwork International.

Berger Singerman's entrepreneurial culture and client service initiatives were previously recognized by the National Law Journal's Midsize Hotlist as a top 20 firm for three consecutive years. Over the past five years, both the Sun-Sentinel and the South Florida Business Journal recognized the Firm with the top "Best Places to Work" awards. Additionally, Berger Singerman was named a 'Regional Powerhouse' by Law360 and its Bankruptcy Litigation practice was named a “Litigation Department of the Year," the only firm recognized in the Bankruptcy category by the Daily Business Review. Our attorneys and Firm continue to receive individual recognition from, among others, Best Lawyers in America®, U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Law Firms,” Florida Trend Legal Elite, South Florida Legal Guide, Florida Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA.

While we are proud of our public awards, our clients’ decision to entrust us with their legal matters is our ultimate endorsement.
 

“We deliver creative and effective business solutions and counsel.” 

Every word of our mission statement is a testament to who we are and our core beliefs:

We – we think of our firm as a team, and each of our attorneys practices principally on one practice team. Our Firm culture encourages and rewards collaboration in all aspects of our business, because we believe collaboration enhances client service. You may be introduced to our Firm by one of our attorneys or your matter may be handled principally by one attorney, but when you engage, you get the benefit of whichever of our team members can add value to our representation. Our attorney compensation system does not reward or encourage attorneys who resist involving others within our Firm who can help in a particular engagement or aspect thereof.

Deliver – the greatest legal work in the world adds no value until it is translated into a timely action plan for our clients. We know that clients often operate with tight time constraints and we are fully aware that time is money. Our attorney team members are sensitive to the needs and realities of our clients' business and are committed to deliver advice and counsel in a timely manner. 

Creative – we know that there are many smart lawyers, but smart is frequently not enough. Some lawyers have a well- deserved and earned reputation as “deal killers,” and indeed often times it is easy for business lawyers to find lots of good reasons to advise clients against pursuing a transaction. We pride ourselves on the creativity of our attorney team members, and on our ability to get deals done-especially the hard ones.

Effective – by including the concept of effectiveness in our mission statement, we demonstrate to our clients and remind ourselves that our approach to an engagement always has to be governed by the particular attributes of the engagement, including size, time constraints, and other governing factors. Within the notion of effectiveness, we include efficiency as well. We know that incurring $100,000 in legal fees for a $250,000 transaction is not effective for our clients, regardless of the elegance of the documents we could prepare or the approach we could formulate. Many of our attorney team members joined us after practicing at large institutional firms. They experienced firsthand the dismay of clients assigned multiple layers of attorneys and paraprofessionals on their matters. We take an evaluative approach and ensure effective representation in the way we staff the engagements entrusted to us.

Business Solutions – while we have the pleasure of representing many institutional clients, our practice is largely a transaction business. We consistently demonstrate our ability to identify with and assist entrepreneurial and business clients overcome obstacles that stand in the way of achieving their goals and objectives.

Counsel – above all else, our clients and prospective clients come to us for counsel. That counsel could take the form of legal representation or advising a prospect or client that a desired business outcome is not feasible. Sometimes the best counsel we can give is that we are not the best Firm to help with an engagement or aspect of an engagement. In all the counsel we give, we consistently demonstrate that we are long-term relationship-oriented with our clients and prospective clients, and that we understand that even by foregoing a representation offered to us, we build faith and trust in our clients. Our desired relationship with our clients is that they call us for all of their legal or professional service needs, and we help to guide them to the appropriate professionals, within or outside of our Firm.

Community service is an integral part
of Berger Singerman’s culture.

We are committed to make a positive impact in our community through leadership roles in various organizations, devoting time to strengthen ties with the community and Pro Bono work.

Leadership

Team members are actively involved in a variety of organizations and, in many cases, in a leadership position to bring resolution or advance various causes.

• Robert Barron, Real Estate and Corporate Partner at Berger Singerman and Board of Governors, Health Professions Division at Nova Southeastern University, was interviewed on the importance of the NSU’s research and its impact on the community.

Community Service

Our team members are actively giving their time and effort to provide assistance to those in need and to improve the communities in which we live and work. These efforts are largely self-directed. Some of the firm sponsored events include:

30th Anniversary – 30 Years with Gratitude

• For the firm’s 30th anniversary, we decided to do something many companies of our size could likely not pull off.  We wanted to make a positive impact in the Boca, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Tallahassee communities where the firm has offices. The firm donated $300,000 to 30 charities in Florida, including one organization chosen by the team members in each of its four offices: Tri-County Animal Rescue, ARC Broward, Children’s Cancer Caring Center and Children’s Home Society. The total amount contributed included donations from a month-long 30th anniversary fundraising initiative which raised $50K from 100 percent firm team member participation. We built an online portal linked to its intranet to help educate the team members on the charities and to encourage the donations. The 30 charities which received contributions from the firm were recognized at Berger Singerman’s 2015 BusinessTalk event in October 2015. An annual event hosted for clients, referral sources and trading partners, the theme of 2015’s BusinessTalk was “The Power of Gratitude: Enhancing Your Professional and Personal Life.” Keynote speaker Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the world’s leading scholars and authors on gratitude, spoke to the crowd of over 300 business leaders from throughout the state.  In addition, the firm produced a video to showcase the charities at the event. Click here to watch the video.

25th Anniversary – Giving Back, Moving Forward

• To celebrate Berger Singerman’s 25th anniversary in 2010, we gave back to the community in 2 ways. Each team member gave back approximately 25 hours of community service totally close to 4000 firm wide. In addition, the firm’s financial contribution during our anniversary year was approximately $200,000. In honor of our giving back to the community in which we serve, we celebrated 10 charities at our anniversary event giving a total of $150,000 in total to these charities. For Berger Singerman’s 20th Anniversary, Celebrate by Giving, the firm gave back to the community in which we serve by donating a total of $150,000 to 20 charities. Guests at both of our anniversary events were able to direct some of the firm’s charitable giving to the selected charities.

Service Days

• Habitat for Humanity – The firm designates a day where team members participate in building houses for Habitat for Humanity. Building a home for those in need serves as a reminder that the firm is committed to enhance the lives of those in the community.
• United Way/Broward Housing Solutions – Team members have participated in painting the exterior of apartment units for clients served by Broward Housing Solutions. Broward Housing Solutions provides quality housing opportunities to meet the needs of lower income people with mental health issues.

Walks and Stair Climb

• Team members participate in various national organization’s walks and stair climb races:
  • American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
  • American Heart Association Heart Walk, in 2010, Berger Singerman received the “Small Company, 2nd Runner Up Award” for fundraising.
  • American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb, Miami and Fort Lauderdale
  • Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

Jeans Day

• On select Fridays throughout the year, the firm enjoys “Jeans Day.” Team members have the opportunity to wear jeans to the office in exchange for a donation to support local charities and organizations.

Holiday Charity Giving

• In lieu of holiday cards, the firm sends an electronic holiday greeting wherein the firm identifies the year's charitable contribution to selected local charities.