Neil Berman

Address:Pinecrest (Miami), FL
Phone:305-577-4175
Since:Mar 23, 2004
Email: neil@thebermanfamily.com
 nberman@brvmlaw.com

Following Weaver I attempted to fulfill my mother's dreams for me of becoming an engineer at Pratt & Whitney, thereby ensuring a lifetime of job security and a pension. I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY for the first year of college and succeeded in learning basically one thing: I wasn't cut out to be an engineer. So I transferred to B.U. where I graduated with a degree in Business Administration. (Mother: "What's that business administration stuff? You're going to end up selling perfume behind the counter at G. Fox, that's what business administration is. You don't have to go to college for that; they'll teach you on the job.") Somewhere in those three years in Boston I settled on the idea of being a lawyer, which was never far from the idea I had when we drew the "what I want to be when I grow up" picture for Mrs. Roth in 6th grade at Sarah J. Rawson School. So, after college I went to UConn Law School, graduating in 1974.

Raised as a wimp, I never was much of a cold weather person, even though I never knew an alternative. But after visiting a friend from college who attended the University of Miami School of Law, I decided that I would move to Florida before my Connecticut roots (actually, the only roots I had) grew irreversibly deep. So, although I took the Connecticut Bar exam after I graduated in 1974, I immediately moved to Miami, took the Florida Bar exam, and never moved. I'm still here. And, after almost thirty years, I can say that the Connecticut roots, grown over only 25 years, have never shriveled. (Remember the Richard Dreyfuss voice over ending in Stand By Me "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?")

It took 14 years in Miami before I was ready to settle down. In 1988 I married Jill Nexon, a transplant from Boston, also, like me, a commercial litigator. We have the two smartest, best looking boys ever. (What? You mean others think their kids are the smartest and best looking, too?) Zack was born in 1992, Ben in 1993. In 1994, Jill and I and three transactional lawyers started a law firm where we still work. We're principally engaged in corporate and real estate law and all the litigation erupting therefrom.

Life in the south has been good, principally a product of dumb luck and an aversion to cold. But the fact is, as good as things might be, there's nothing like youth. I was and am incredibly impressed with Mark's effort at this website. A whole chunk of my life has come back because of his efforts. And I love hearing from my fellow Weaverites.