David M. Berke

Member

David focuses his practice on insurance coverage, with a secondary emphasis on complex litigation. An experienced litigator, David has extensive experience representing insurance companies in intricate employment practices liability (EPL), directors and officers (D&O), cyber liability, errors and omissions (E&O), and commercial general liability (CGL) insurance coverage disputes. David was also involved in privacy class actions under the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the Federal Wiretap Act/Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Before that, he spent several years with a legal malpractice defense boutique, where he skillfully protected the interests of major multinational law firms in a variety of contexts, as well as representing institutional clients with respect to insurance coverage and privacy issues.

While always willing to take a case to trial, David prides himself on successfully closing cases through strategic motion practice and, where appropriate, settlement negotiations. His notable achievements include prevailing on dispositive motions for insurers, law firms, and other large corporate clients. These decisions have come in a variety of contexts, ranging from the absence of coverage and/or failure to meet policy conditions to the mediation privilege, trade secret claims, issue preclusion, the statute of limitations, and anti-SLAPP motions. He has also skillfully and successfully handled related appeals, including but not limited to cases concerning coverage for class action habitability claims, coverage for class action invasion of privacy claims, and the enforceability of class action waivers.

David earned his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, where he was selected for the Moot Court Honors program and was an editor of the Journal of Law and Technology. He earned his B.A. from California State University, Northridge.

News

Best Lawyers Honors More Than 200 Cozen O'Connor Attorneys in its Best Lawyers in America 2025 Edition

August 15, 2024

Best Lawyers selected 242 Cozen O’Connor lawyers from 24 of the firm’s U.S. offices for inclusion in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

Cozen O’Connor Further Expands its Insurance Coverage Practice, Adding Litigators in Los Angeles and Houston

October 16, 2023

Julie E. Van Wert, David M. Berke, Jerome P. Doctors, and Rangi Perera joined in Los Angeles and Christopher Tramonte joined in Houston.

Publications

Cozen O'Connor Adds Insurance Attorneys In LA, Houston

October 17, 2023

Law360 covered the recent expansion to the firm’s insurance litigation practice by adding Julie E. Van Wert, David M. Berke, Jerome P. Doctors, and Rangi Perera in Los Angeles and Christopher Tramonte in Houston.

Industry Sectors

Education

  • UCLA School of Law, J.D., 2003
  • California State University, Northridge , B.A., 2000

Awards & Honors

Best Lawyers in America (Insurance Law) 2025

  • California
  • U.S. District Court -- Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court -- Southern District of California
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court