rbernstein@vanfeliu.com
PRACTICE AREAS:
Complex Commercial Litigation
EDUCATION:
B.A., Cornell University, cum laude, 1977
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 1981
BAR ADMISSIONS:
1982, New York and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; 1983, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and District of Arizona; 1984, Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals; 1986, Second Circuit Court of Appeals; 2001, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; 1995, United States Supreme Court; 2003, Frankfurt, Germany.
Bob Bernstein joined Vandenberg & Feliu, on January 1, 2008, after a 26-year legal career at Kaye Scholer LLP, where he was of counsel in New York and a partner in the firm’s Frankfurt, Germany office. Mr. Bernstein has extensive experience in complex domestic and international commercial litigation. He has represented and advised many U.S. and foreign companies in the areas of commercial contract disputes, antitrust, commodities, derivatives, futures trading, hedge funds, insurance coverage, minority shareholder disputes, accounting and legal malpractice, real estate ownership issues, and employment disputes. He has litigated in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States, and worked with local counsel in connection with legal proceedings in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Bolivia. He has also participated in arbitration proceedings before the AAA and JAMS, and mediation proceedings in a variety of different fora. Mr. Bernstein has also assisted clients in matters involving law enforcement and government regulatory agencies in the United States and abroad.
Mr. Bernstein’s accomplishments include being a key member of the team that represented a large German conglomerate in connection with its financial rescue following a $2 billion loss trading oil derivatives. In that connection, he negotiated the unwinding of unfavorable long-term contracts; brought legal actions to stop minority creditors from blocking the company’s financial rescue, brought breach of fiduciary duty claims against the former president of the German company’s U.S. subsidiary and obtained a favorable settlement; and successfully defended the company against dozens of breach of contract claims involving hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability.
An important case handled by Mr. Bernstein established that the London Metal
Exchange is a U.S. market for antitrust purposes and, as a result, he obtained a favorable
settlement on behalf of English and New York traders who were victims of a price
squeeze. Mr. Bernstein also tried an accounting malpractice case against a big-four
accounting firm and obtained an $80 million judgment); succeeded in bringing fraud
and breach of contract claims against a major online broker; succeeded in representing
German real estate investors who were seeking to recover title to property in Manhattan;
obtained a favorable settlement for a German website developer who had a claim against
a U.S. investment banker; and succeeded in getting favorable settlements for institutional
investors who had brought claims against insurers who had reneged on obligations to
insure bonds collateralized by mobile home loans. Mr. Bernstein recently appeared in a
CNBC report on what investors can do to protect against hedge fund fraud.
In 2007 and 2008, Mr. Bernstein was named a Super Lawyer for the New York Metro Area by New York Super Lawyers Magazine.
Mr. Bernstein is married with two children and lives in Edgemont, New York, where he is president of the Edgemont Community Council. In 2005, he received Edgemont’s Silver Box Aware for Distinguished Community Service.