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About Berton Law
John Berton, Principal
A downtown NYC native, John is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Williams College and Harvard Law School - Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude.
John practiced corporate, securities, and transactional law on Wall Street for nearly 20 years, first at a major law firm (Cleary Gottlieb) and then in-house (Goldman Sachs and Jane Street Capital).
For the past 10+ years, John has served as Outsourced General Counsel to entrepreneurs, small businesses, venture capitalists, family offices and other angel and investment groups.
Berton Law focuses on entity formation, deal structuring, syndicate investments, private placements, M&A, private equity and any other complex corporate or transactional matters where sophisticated legal advice is required.
Experience and Education
Principal
Berton Law
2011 – Present
New York, New York
Berton Law focuses on entity formation, deal structuring, syndicate investments, private placements, M&A, private equity and any other complex corporate or transactional matters where sophisticated legal advice is required.
General Counsel & Investor
Tribeca Early Stage Partners
2014 – Present
New York, New York
Tribeca Early Stage Partners is a syndicate group of entrepreneurs and business leaders with deep domain expertise in institutional finance and technology with Seed and Series A investments in 40+ FinTech startups.
Deputy General Counsel
Jane Street Capital
2008 – 2010
New York, New York
Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Amsterdam, providing liquidity to markets with a unique focus on technology and collaborative problem solving, trading a broad range of asset classes on more than 200 venues in 45 countries.
John advised on a broad variety of legal, regulatory and compliance matters globally for a proprietary trading firm engaged in quantitative program-driven strategies across all asset classes, with offices in New York, London and Tokyo.
V.P. and Associate General Counsel
Goldman Sachs
1997 – 2008
New York, New York
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global financial institution that delivers a broad range of financial services to a large and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals.
John first served as principal advisor to the Equities and Private Banking Single Stock Risk Management group, a joint venture between the Private Wealth Management and Equity Derivatives Trading divisions from1997-2003, advising on all aspects of the business of monetizing the value of restricted stock positions through sophisticated hedging strategies, margin lending or outright private purchases.
He subsequently became a senior legal advisor to Goldman’s prime brokerage business from 2003-2008, where he routinely dealt with the many regulatory, contractual and general legal issues raised in servicing Goldman’s prime brokerage clients, the world’s largest and most sophisticated hedge funds and institutional money managers.
Project Management / Legal Advisor / Investor
Real Estate Development
1995 – 2005
New York, New York
John acted as principal and general counsel for several syndicate real estate projects involving SoHo and TriBeCa residential condo Condominium conversions of warehouses and loft buildings to high-end residences.
24 Leonard St. – 40,000 square feet/$100 Million sell-out – (2018)
60 Warren St. – 32,000 square feet/$12 Million sell-out – (2000)
169 Hudson St. – 75,000 square feet/$30 Million sell-out – (1997)
29 Howard St. – 12,000 square feet/$14 Million sell-out – (1995)
27 Howard St. – 12,000 square feet/$12mm sell-out – (1994)
Associate
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
1993 – 1997
New York, New York
Cleary Gottlieb is a leading international corporate and securities law firm, with 16 offices located in major financial centers around the world, that has helped shape the globalization of the legal profession for more than 75 years.
He negotiated and drafted purchase, loan, underwriting, merger, distribution and licensing agreements for public and private, U.S. and cross-border transactions.
Staff Attorney, Central Staff
Nevada Supreme Court
1991 – 1992
Carson City, Nevada
Screened submissions for jurisdictional defects; researched and drafted opinions, bench memoranda and orders for civil and criminal appeals, petitions and extraordinary writs.
Education
Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude
Harvard Law School
1988 – 1991
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature & Japanese Studies, cum laude
Williams College
1981 – 1985
Williamstown, Massachusetts
One Year Certificate Program, Japanese Language and Area Studies
Doshisha University
1983 – 1984
Kyoto, Japan
High School Diploma, 4.0 GPA
Stuyvesant High School
1978 – 1981
New York, New York
His duties included advising on US and cross-border sales and trading and other broker-dealer regulatory and compliance matters, contracts, clearing, execution and vendor relationships, firm corporate structure, leases and new construction, and employment and immigration, and frequent coordination with outside counsel on all of the above.
At this pre-eminent Wall Street international securities and corporate law firm, John pursued a general corporate practice that included registered offerings of rights, convertible debt and equity offerings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and complex loan and real estate transactions.