Law firm bio Kerry Berchem
Kerry Berchem, a lawyer who knows both Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Deborah Ramirez from their days at Yale University, says she has text messages that indicate Kavanaugh may have known about Ramirez’s allegations before they appeared in the New Yorker, NBC News is reporting.
Berchem wrote a letter to the Senate. You can read it here:
“Lives have been altered. Not just Brett Kavanaugh’s. …I have also moved my family out of my house given threats that I have received this week.”
“All that said, I know I did the right thing.”
“I fear that you have ignored or been made to ignore pertinent evidence.”
Kavanaugh testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he first learned of the Ramirez accusations in the New Yorker article, NBC reported. Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote on Twitter after the report that the “idea that Kavanaugh perjured himself… is media-manufactured nonsense.”
He pointed to a thread that contained this passage from Kavanaugh’s testimony:
The New Yorker magazine reported in late September 2018 that Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s, was accusing the Supreme Court nominee of exposing himself “at a drunken dormitory party” where she alleges he “thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.”
The story reported that her memory had “gaps” from drinking, and that she wasn’t able to clarify Kavanaugh’s role in the incident “with certainty” for six days after first speaking with the New Yorker journalists. The magazine also reported that it was not able to confirm Kavanaugh was at the party. Kavanaugh denies the claims as well as those by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Julie Swetnick, his other named accusers. The New York Times also reported that the paper could not find witnesses to the incident, although the New Yorker interviewed an unidentified man who says he heard of a an incident allegedly involving Kavanaugh close to the time. According to The New York Times, Ramirez told classmates recently that she wasn’t sure “that Judge Kavanaugh was the person who exposed himself.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Berchem Told NBC News That She Has Texts That Suggest Kavanaugh May Have Known About Ramirez’s Accusations Before the New Yorker Article
GettySupreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC.
NBC News reported that Kerry Berchem went to Yale with Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Deborah Ramirez and that Berchem has texts between herself and Karen Yarasavage, a friend of Kavanaugh, that “suggest that the nominee was personally talking with former classmates about Ramirez’s story in advance of the new Yorker article that made her allegation public,” NBC News said.
NBC reported that one message Yarasavage sent to Berchem allegedly “said Kavanaugh asked her to go on the record in his defense.” Berchem released a statement to NBC that said, “I understand that President Trump and the U.S. Senate have ordered an FBI investigation into certain allegations of sexual misconduct by the nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I have no direct or indirect knowledge about any of the allegations against him. However, I am in receipt of text messages from a mutual friend of both Debbie and mine that raise questions related to the allegations. I have not drawn any conclusions as to what the texts may mean or may not mean but I do believe they merit investigation by the FBI and the Senate.“
Berchem wrote a memo “outlining her correspondence with Yarasavage,” according to NBC. She reached out to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office, said NBC, which quoted George Hartmann, spokesman for Chuck Grassley, Judiciary Committee Chairman, as saying, “the texts from Ms. Berchem do not appear relevant or contradictory to Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony.”
The texts show that Kavanaugh “obtained a copy of a photograph of a small group of friends from Yale at a 1997 wedding in order to show himself smiling alongside Ramirez 10 years after they graduated,” reported NBC.
She has tried to reach the FBI, and NBC reported that one of the texts from Yarasavage said she had been in contact with “Brett’s guy” and with “Brett” who wanted her to “refute Ramirez.” She also allegedly gave a copy of a wedding party photo to Kavanaugh.
Berchem also alleged that Ramirez tried to “avoid Kavanaugh” at the wedding of Yarasavage to Kevin Genda, both of their friends.
Bercham Is Head of Corporate Practice for a Major Law Firm
Kerry E. Berchem is a lawyer with the firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld LLP. According to the firm’s website, Berchem is the “head of Akin Gump’s corporate practice, a member of the firm’s management committee and the former chair of its audit committee.”
The website adds: “Ms. Berchem advises companies, including boards of directors, and private equity funds in mergers, acquisitions and private equity investments, capital markets transactions, corporate governance matters, and reorganizations and recapitalizations. She serves as outside general counsel to several publicly traded and private companies. In 2016, she was named one of New York Law Journal’s ‘Top Women in Law.'”
According to the law firm’s website, Berchem serves on “the New York City Bar Association’s Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Control Contests Committee, the Business Law Partner Advisory Board of Thomson Reuters Accelus and the Corporate Advisory Board of the Practical Law Company.”
Berchem Has Served as Counsel for Major Companies’ Acquisitions & Mergers
The law firm lists what it calls “Ms. Berchem’s recent engagements include serving as counsel.” They include:
CIFG Holding Inc. in its $450million acquisition by Assured Guaranty Corp.
Capmark Financial Group Inc. in its $410 million acquisition of Orchard Brands Corporation
WMIH Corp. in connection with:
its $3.8 billion merger with Nationstar Mortgage and its flagship brand Mr. Cooper®na strategic investment in the company by subsidiaries of KKR & Co. L.P. $600 million 144A offering of Series B Convertible Preferred StockU.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ:USCR), in a $200 million Rule 144A/Reg. S offering of senior secured notes
Alterra Capital Holdings (NASDAQ:ALTE), a Bermuda-based reinsurer, in its $3.1 billion sale to Markel Corporation.
Ms. Berchem acted as outside general counsel to Alterra, and advised it and its predecessor, Max Capital Group (NASDAQ: MXG), in connection with:
Max Capital’s $3 billion merger of equals with Harbor Point Limited to form Alterra
Max Capital’s $3 billion attempted merger with IPG, including responding to a competing tender offer and proxy contest
Anchor Glass Container Corp., one of the largest glass container manufacturers in the United States, in its $880 million sale to Ardagh Group SA, a Luxembourg-based glass and packaging manufacturer. Prior to the sale, representation of Anchor included advising on:
Its chapter 11 restructuring, where Ms. Berchem advised the company’s official committee of unsecured creditors
Its $350 million leveraged recapitalization, where Ms. Berchem advised the company’s board of directorsTekelec, Inc., a leading provider of mobile broadband solutions, in its $780 million sale to a consortium of investors led by Siris Capital Group, LLC
Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLRE), a Cayman Island reinsurance company, in connection with its formation, its initial $250 million capitalization, and its $212 million initial public offering and concurrent $50 million private placement.
Berchem Is Involved in Non-Profit Organizations & Cultural Events
According to her law firm bio, Berchem is “an active participant in the National Charity League, a not-for-profit organization of mothers and daughters intended to foster community responsibility through participation in philanthropic work, educational activities and cultural events.”
She served as Fairfield Connecticut Representative Town Meeting, from November 2017 to present.
She has a law degree from Tulane University, 1991, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, 1988.
The law firm lists these awards:
Named one of New York Law Journal’s “Top Women in Law,” which recognizes those “making strides to push the legal profession forward for women,” 2016
Named in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading lawyer in the area of corporate/M&A, 2006-2018
Legal 500 (2015-2018) – M&A: middle-market
Recipient of Diversity Journal’s 13th Annual “Women Worth Watching” award, 2014
Named to Lawdragon’s Leading Lawyers in America, 2012-2015
Named to the American Lawyer’s “45 Under 45” list, recognizing the top female lawyers in private practice, 2011