Stuart M. Berkson
PartnerStuart Berkson focuses his practice on international business transactions, with an emphasis on international investments and mergers and acquisitions. He provides counsel for international companies, and on their behalf handles direct investments, acquisitions, dispositions, reorganizations, joint ventures, licensing and distribution arrangements that often encompass multiple jurisdictions.
He is well versed in international investment issues and legal and business concerns for investors, including tax. Among his clients are high tech companies, service companies, petrochemical companies and a wide variety of manufacturers from around the world. Stuart has extensive experience in matters involving jurisdictions throughout the Americas, along with South Africa, Israel, Western Europe and Asia. He is licensed as a foreign consultant in Brazil by OAB-SP, the bar association of São Paulo.
In 2011, Stuart was named the chair of DLA Piper's Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Chicago office.
Awards
The Legal 500 Latin America
- Recommended, Corporate/M&A (2012)
Chambers Latin America
- Band 5, Latin America-wide Corporate/M&A (2018)
- Band 5, Latin America-wide Corporate/M&A (2013-2017)
Additional Awards
- Named several times as one of the leading US advisors on Latin American tax issues by International Tax Review
- Latin Lawyer 250 recognized Stuart for his "long commercial experience in Latin America" (2016)
- Latin Business Chronicle recognized him as a Latin America Legal Star, making him among the 50 top lawyers working with or in Latin America (2014)
- Recommended by his peers in Best Lawyers in America® for his work in tax law
Teaching
He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Law School and currently teaches at Duke Law School, in both cases on issues related to investments in Latin America. He frequently lectures on a variety of international corporate and tax related topics.
Other Accomplishments
While in law school, Stuart served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is also a certified public accountant and was awarded the Elijah Watt Sells Gold Medal for the highest score in the United States on the May 1977 Uniform Certified Public Accountants examination.
