Civil and Criminal Litigation Practice

The litigation group at Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP consists of eight seasoned litigators: Thomas G. Corcoran, Jr., William F. Coffield, Melvin White, Perry S. Bechky, Laina Lopez, Bruce Zagaris, David Baron, Dale Eppler, Jared Butcher, and Sharon Rose. We represent foreign states, and foreign and domestic companies and individuals, including corporate officers and directors and public sector officials. We are particularly experienced in white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, commercial litigation, international law, and foreign sovereign immunity.

Two of our litigators, Mr. Coffield and Mr. White, have been ranked as "SuperLawyers," www.superlawyers.com, and Mr. Coffield is listed as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers for Criminal Defense by The National Trial Lawyers.

We also have experience in arbitration and mediation proceedings in international matters before highly respected tribunals, including AAA/ICDR, the ICC, and JAMS. Some of our attorneys have been admitted as expert witnesses in various tribunals in international law disputes. We have also handled disputes arising under foreign laws in various languages.

Some of our representative matters include:

• Currently representing government contractor in complex civil litigation involving allegations of successor liability.   
• Currently representing foreign businessman in matter involving the Securities Exchange Commission and allegations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Currently representing, in several different suits, foreign state embassies in employment discrimination matters before federal courts and arbitral tribunals.   
• Currently representing technology entrepreneurs in a dispute over a merger in the online mobile advertising technology sector.
• Currently representing a large national nonprofit organization in a corporate governance dispute.
• Currently representing a major shareholder and former CTO in a dispute with a technology company in the online gaming marketplace.
• Represented large private Hungarian bank in Alien Tort Statute suit alleging wrongful retention of assets. We won a writ of mandamus petition on personal jurisdiction grounds.
• Represented Middle East foreign sovereign government in attachment proceeding involving ancient artifacts.
• Represented former general counsel in high-profile white collar criminal case. We won the motion to dismiss the indictment.
• Represented a U.S. manufacturer seeking to quantify damages for the Department of Defense's improper termination of a government contract. Defeated two motions to dismiss and negotiated a multi-million-dollar settlement following the Government's initial offer of zero.
• Represented a German distributor, sued by a U.S. manufacturer for breach of contract, fraud, and Lanham Act violations. We persuaded the manufacturer to withdraw the Lanham Act claims, and following a trial, the arbitration tribunal awarded minimal damages against our client and dismissed the manufacturer's fraud claims.
• Advised regarding management of U.S. export controls in connection with four separate arbitrations involving alleged satellite/satellite launch failures, as well as in connection with federal litigation regarding degraded performance of multiple satellites, litigation in a foreign sovereign court and U.S. state court involving aircraft accidents, and informal dispute resolution regarding satellites and aircraft.