Attorney Profile
New York Attorney Practicing in the Areas of Captive Insurance Law, Insurance Law and Life Settlements, Trusts & Estate Planning, Domestic and International Business Transactions, Trustee & Escrow Services, Commodities and Civil Mediation
Jonathan S. Berck has been a practicing attorney since 1986. His recent work has been advising clients and institutions on issues relating to captive insurance and the formation of captive insurance companies. He serves as counsel to Captive Planning Associates, LLC (CPA), one of the leading providers of captive management services.
In addition to to his activities for CPA, Mr. Berck continues to operate his own practice. He opened his own law office in the fall of 2003, and since then has advised clients large and small in different phases of development, from start-up companies and individual entrepreneurs just forming corporate entities and seeking initial financing, to hedge funds needing sophisticated trustee services, to the structuring and documentation for international transactions for the project and structured finance department of Morgan Stanley. His work on behalf of small and medium-businesses has encompassed private equity firms, small manufacturers, and new and established investment firms. With a well-established banking infrastructure, Mr. Berck is one of the leading non-institutional providers of trustee and escrow services. He also provides estate planning and traditional trust and estate services to individual clients. Recently, Mr. Berck has negotiated transactions for the importation of precious gems and metals from Africa. He has served as a civil mediator for court system of the State of New Jersey, and continues to provide mediation services on a private basis.
Prior to opening his own office, Mr. Berck served as an attorney with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., with Shearman & Sterling in Washington, D.C., and Frankfurt, and with Latham & Watkins in London. He was also a staff attorney for the International Finance Corporation, the private finance arm of the World Bank Group.
Mr. Berck spent four years as a professor of international law at the University of Alabama Law School at Tuscaloosa, teaching International Business Transactions, International Trade Law, Public International Law and Immigration Law, and has served as a private consultant on international law issues to international organizations and private businesses.
He is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., and is admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of England & Wales. He is also registered as a foreign legal counsel for United States law in Germany. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous other federal courts.
Education and Personal Information
After graduating from Swarthmore College with Highest Honors, Jon Berck studied Reformation History and 19th-Century Philosophy at the University of Tübingen in Germany as a Fulbright scholar. He went on to receive his Master’s degree in History from Columbia University and his law degree cum laude from the Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he was associate editor of the Harvard International Law Journal and a research assistant to Professor Archibald Cox, the first Watergate special prosecutor.
Mr. Berck is fluent in German.
In addition to his legal practice, Jon is an avid guitar and bass enthusiast, collector, and aspiring musician. Click here to see his guitar collection.
