Services
Education
- Boston College Law School, J.D.
- Northwestern University, B.A.
Admissions
- Massachusetts
- New York
- U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
RecognitionMark is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and chair of its Educational Programs Committee. Mark has been selected by his peers every year for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America from 1989 to present. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey. He is also listed in Who’s Who in American Law; Who’s Who in America; Who’s Who in the World (Marquis Who’s Who), Who’s Who Legal USA: Insolvency & Restructuring and recognized for exceptional standing in the legal community in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for bankruptcy and restructuring work. Mark has been recognized in Chambers USA in previous years. He has also been recognized as a Massachusetts “Super Lawyer” in Bankruptcy & Creditor/Debtor Rights based on a peer-review survey by Thomson Reuters (2004–present). Mark is recognized by Corporate Counsel as one of the “Top Lawyers.”
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MARK N. BERMAN
Over his more than 35-year career, Mark Berman has represented virtually every kind of interest that might be involved with a financially troubled business or individual.
Recent representative engagements include:
Financial Restructuring & Bankruptcy
- Advise US DOT in connection with South Bay Expressway chapter 11 reorganization (California)
- Advise US DOE in connection with Beacon Power Corporation chapter 11 reorganization (Delaware)
- Defense of insurance industry defendants in fraudulent transfer litigation in Brooke Corporation chapter 7 cases (Kansas)
- Cynergy Data LLC (debtors’ counsel)
- Lyondell Chemical Company (member of senior secured loan syndicate and member of ad hoc group of senior secured lenders)
- Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (counterparties to financial contracts)
- New Century Financial Corp. (trustee of securitization trusts)
- Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. (collateral trustee for second lien lenders)
- Out-of-court restructuring of an agricultural product business on behalf of agent for secured bank syndicate
- Out-of-court workout and sale of a publishing company on behalf of secured lender
- The Colad Group, Inc. (trustee for industrial revenue bond financing)
- Divine, Inc. (significant creditor, landlord and equity holder)
Leveraged Finance
- Negotiation of intercreditor agreements and subordination agreements in second lien and mezzanine financings
Public Finance
- Financing of toll roads
- Financing of new Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)
- Financing of Citi Field (New York Mets)
- Refinancing of Gillette Stadium (New England Patriots)
- Financing of military housing developments
- Financing of New Meadowlands Stadium (New York Jets and New York Giants)
- Financing of regional mall expansion
- Financing of Target Field (Minnesota Twins)
- Acquisition financing for Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field
- Financing of Brooklyn Arena (New Jersey Nets)
- Jefferson County, AL (one of three bond insurers for defaulted sewer warrants)
Structured Finance
- True sale opinions in sale of various assets including accounts receivable, government contract payments, mortgage loans and accounts, alternative energy investments
- Non-consolidation opinions in various financings
Publications
- “Restructuring Your Strategies as a Bankruptcy Attorney in Today’s Economy,” chapter in Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Law in 2012, Thomson Reuters, 2012.
- “"The Enforceability in Bankruptcy Proceedings of Waiver and Assignment of Rights Clauses Within Intercreditor or Subordination Agreements," Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law & Practice, vol. 20, #6, 2011 (coauthor).
- “An Update on Second-Lien Financings and Intercreditor Agreements: Part III,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May, 2011.
- “An Update on Second-Lien Financings and Intercreditor Agreements: Part II,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, March, 2011.
- “An Update on Second-Lien Financings and Intercreditor Agreements: Part I,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, December/January, 2010.
- “Response to Vacating Chrysler,” Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law & Practice, vol. 19, #3, 2010. (Author)
- “Handbook on Second Lien Loans & Intercreditor Agreements,” American Bankruptcy Institute, 2009 (coauthor).
- “Bankruptcy Sales Prior to Plan Confirmation Do Not Qualify for Tax Exemption,” Bloomberg Law Reports, Vol. 2, No. 26, June 30, 2008.
- “The Dura Decision: Junior Creditors Again Strike Out Interpreting the Elusive X-Clause,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, March 2008 (coauthor).
- “District Court Provides Further Clarification That Equitable Subordination and Disallowance Risk Will Not Pass to Buyer Who Acquires Claims in a Good Faith Open Market Purchase,” Bloomberg Law Reports on Bankruptcy Law, Vol 1, No 21, October 15, 2007.
- “District Court Decides that Equitable Subordination Runs with Claimant Not with Claim,” Bloomberg Law Reports on Bankruptcy Law, Vol 1, No 17, September 17, 2007, republished in Vol. 1, No. 32, December 31, 2007.
- “Hedge Funds Meet the Bankruptcy Process,” Pratt’s Journal of Bankruptcy Law, Vol 2, Number 3, July/August 2007.
- “The Tale of Northwest Airlines: Will the Sunlight of Disclosure Chill Hedge Funds?” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May 2007.
- “Hedge Funds: Lessons Learned from the Radnor Decision,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, February 2007.
- “Second-Lien Financing: Part V: Who Gets What?” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, July/August 2006.
- “Second-Lien Financings: Part IV: Good, Bad and Ugly,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, June 2006.
- “Second-Lien Financings Part III: Anecdotes—the Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Atkins—the Good,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May 2006.
- “Second-Lien Financings, Part II: Anecdotes and Speculation—the Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, March 2006.
- “Second-Lien Financings: Part I: Enforcement of Intercreditor Agreements in Bankruptcy— More Questions than Answers,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, February 2006.
- “Second Lien Financings and the Intercreditor Agreement,” Credit Investment News, September 2005.
- “Protecting a Lessee’s Section 365(h) Right to Possession after Rejection From a Sale of the Underlying Real Estate Free and Clear of Interests,” ABI World, June 2005.
- “Not So Fast! Delaware Court Reigns in Creditor Suits Against Ds & Os,” American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, May 2005.
- “Buying and Selling a Distressed Business,” chapter in Buying and Selling a Privately Owned Business, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 2005.
- “Plain Meaning and the Assumption (or Not) of a License of Copyrighted Software,” ABI World, May 2004.
- “Top Ten Things to Know If You Are an Investor in or Director of a Failing Business,” February 2004.
- “LLC Member Interest and Bankruptcy: Courts Begin to Sort Things Out,” ABI World, November 2003.
AffiliationsMark is an active member of the Boston Bar Association, where he served as chairman of the Business Law Section from 1995 to 1997; chairman of the Bankruptcy Law Committee from 1990 to 1992; and a member of the Legislation Committee from 1999 to 2000; and where he is currently a member of the Bankruptcy Law Section’s Steering Committee. Mark is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Loan Syndication & Trading Association, and the Turnaround Management Association. He is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, and is active in the American Bankruptcy Institute, where he is a member of the ABI World Editorial Board and was co-chair of the 2003, 2004, and 2005 Northeast Bankruptcy Conferences. He has published recent articles in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, and made presentations at the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Winter Leadership Conference in 2005 and 2006 on the subject of intercreditor agreements used in second lien financings. He is currently a Joshua P. Guberman Fellow and Lecturer at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.
Mark was appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to serve a five-year term as a member of the Client Security Board from 1997 to 2002, where he also served as vice chairman, secretary, and treasurer.
Mark has taught courses on business law and credit law for the New England Chapter of the National Credit Institute (an affiliate of the National Association of Credit Management) and currently teaches an online course in those subjects for the National Association of Credit Management. He regularly writes about and speaks on bankruptcy and commercial law subjects in various parts of the country. Mark was an adjunct professor at Boston College Law School during the spring semester of 2012, teaching a course in international bankruptcy law. Thought Leadership/Alerts
Press
Media Clips- Bankruptcy Bar Fighting Off ‘Unfair' Fee Proposal
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly | June 18, 2012
Boston Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring partner Mark Berman provides commentary in this article discussing the controversial fee proposal from the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees and how it could impact bankruptcy attorneys. - Harrisburg’s Unkovic Says was in “untenable position”
Reuters | April 2, 2012
Boston Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring partner Mark Berman discusses the uncertainty of Harrisburg, PA’s financial plans following the resignation of the city’s receiver amid efforts to find a solution to the city’s financial crisis. - U.S. Judge Clears Way for Alabama County Bankruptcy
Reuters | March 5, 2012
This feature story discusses a ruling by a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge allowing for Alabama’s Jefferson County to move forward with its $4.23 billion bankruptcy case, the biggest ever by an American municipality. Boston Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring partner Mark Berman provides third-party commentary. . . . View all . . .
Events
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