Matthew L. Berman

I represent employees and other plaintiffs, never employers or institutions. Much of my work is class and group litigation against practices that harm many people at once, often by New York City or New York State.

I am counsel in Dorce v. City of New York, a class action over the City’s Third Party Transfer program, which took title to homes over municipal debt and kept the owners’ equity. The case was filed in March 2019. In 2021 the Second Circuit reinstated the takings, due process and equal protection claims, and in September 2026 the City agreed to a proposed $60 million settlement for one class, now awaiting court approval. I have also represented FDNY Fire Protection Inspectors in a race-based pay class action and production assistants in overtime cases against major studios and networks.

For individual employees, I handle unpaid commissions and wages, discrimination and retaliation, and severance agreements. I also publish plain-language guides to New York sales-commission and severance law, with the full text of the decisions they cite; the website link is in my contact information.

Before joining Valli Kane & Vagnini in 2015, I spent ten years at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, a national plaintiffs’ class-action firm, working on securities, consumer and employment class actions. I then practiced at a Madison Avenue trial boutique. I was selected to Super Lawyers for Employment Litigation: Plaintiff, 2024-2026.

I am a partner at Valli Kane & Vagnini LLP, which handles every representation.

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