Berman Tabacco

Securities

Partner

Norman Berman, a founder of Berman Tabacco’s Boston office, co-founded Berman DeValerio & Pease, LLP, a predecessor to Berman Tabacco, in 1982. Over the years, he has focused his practice principally on complex business litigation seeking to secure financial justice for investors and consumers. He has grown the Boston office from its original three lawyers to its present 18 and in 1993 partnered with Joseph Tabacco in San Francisco to help fashion Berman Tabacco into a respected nationwide litigation firm.

A seasoned litigator with over three decades of experience, Norman has litigated a variety of class actions involving securities fraud, corporate mergers and acquisitions, shareholder derivative and consumer fraud. A passionate advocate for shareholders’ rights, he heads up the firm’s corporate governance and fiduciary duty litigation practice.

Norman has litigated numerous cases to successful resolution recovering many millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors. He has considerable trial experience in both state and federal courts.

He is AV Preeminent® rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and was named one of Massachusetts’s Super Lawyers in securities litigation for the years 2004-2006 and 2009-2023 by New England/Massachusetts Super Lawyers.  He was also ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a Local Litigation Star (2013-2015 and 2017-2024) and Massachusetts State Litigation Star (2018-2024) in Securities.  He was also selected by Lawdragon for its 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers guide (2019-2024), as featured in Lawdragon’s The Plaintiff Issue magazine.

Prior to co-founding Berman DeValerio & Pease, LLP in 1982, Norman was a litigator at Boston-based Barron & Stadfeld, P.C. and Harold Brown & Associates.

Before studying law, Norman worked in a quarry, drove a taxi, rented apartments, worked in an institutional kitchen, managed a retail store and sold shoes.

EXPERIENCE

Participated in leadership in many high-profile cases, including an international fraud class action against Xerox Corp., which resulted in a $750 million recovery, a class action against UnumProvident which settled for $45 million, and a class action against directors, officers, auditors and underwriters of Philip Services in which a Canadian auditor paid a record $79.75 million to settle, litigated and negotiated an $18 million settlement in the ICG Communications, Inc. class action. Served as co-lead counsel in a class action against armored vehicle manufacturer, Force Protection which settled shortly before trial for $24 million. Served as trial counsel in a number of successful cases, including Hurley et al v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., where the court entered an $18 million judgment against the failed First Service Bank for Savings. Also served on the trial team in ICN/Viratek Securities Litigation, which settled after a six-week jury trial for more than $14.5 million in 1996, and Conway v. Licata which resulted in a favorable jury decision. Represented institutional and individual clients in a number of cases involving mergers in which shareholders of the acquired companies received inadequate consideration. These cases included, for example: Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., which resulted in a benefit to shareholders of $232.8 million, In re Bluegreen Corporation Shareholder Litigation, Case No. 502011CA018111 (Fla.) (first, increased merger consideration by $75 million, then settled for additional $36.5 million); In re TPC Group Inc. Shareholders Litigation, C.A. No. 7865 (Del. Ch.) (increased merger consideration by $79 million); In re El Paso Corporation Shareholder Litigation, C.A. No. 6949-CS (Del. Ch.) ($110 million monetary recovery for El Paso shareholders). Served on the trial team in MAZ Partners LP v. Bruce A. Shear, et al., 1:11-cv-11049 (D. Mass., 2011), which was tried for nine days and resulted in a post-trial verdict requiring defendants to pay $3 million in disgorgement. Argued successfully in the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, before Justice David Souter, in Indian Head National Bank v. George D. Corey where the court upheld an award of fees and costs against an institutional trustee for failing to carry out its obligations to its beneficiary.

American Bar Association, Business Law and Litigation committees Massachusetts Bar Association, Litigation Group Boston Bar Association

Suffolk University Law School (J.D., 1974) Boston University (B.A., Government, 1970)

Board of Directors of the Boston Workmen’s Circle Board of Directors of the Custom Made Theatre Company Co-founder, director and president of Temple Beth Israel Preservation Society, Inc., a Connecticut nonprofit corporation Co-founder, Director and Past President of In Good Company, Inc. a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation Performs with the Yiddish Community Chorus of the Boston Workmen’s Circle Performs with In Good Company