Peter Freiberg

Peter graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and received his law degree from Tulane University School of Law. After graduating from law school, Peter served as an Assistant District Attorney with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where he learned the fundamentals of trial practice. While serving as a prosecutor, he tried approximately 40 cases to verdict, most of them jury trials, and handled countless grand jury presentations and pre-trial hearings. Since leaving the District Attorney’s office, Peter has actively litigated a wide variety of cases on behalf of a diverse group of clients, representing both plaintiffs and defendants.

He regularly appears in state and federal trial and appellate courts, and is rated by his peers through Martindale-Hubbel as A-V Preeminent, which is the best peer ranking available for attorneys signifying the highest level of professional and ethical excellence. He is also ranked as a New York Super Lawyer, within the top five percent of lawyers in New York.

Peter’s diverse experiences as an attorney have entailed a wide range of cases. Over his career, he has prosecuted and defended large mass tort, toxic tort and class action lawsuits; successfully litigated high-end personal injury cases; handled a variety of admiralty and maritime tort and commercial matters; litigated environmental damage claims, including insurance coverage aspects of environmental damages; successfully prosecuted employment discrimination cases; prosecuted and defended general commercial and securities matters, including shareholder and partnership disputes, corporate dissolutions and fraud cases; and handled numerous trusts and estate matters, both at the estate planning stage and at the litigation stage.

Peter’s more notable cases include:

Representing a group of commercial fishermen in a class action that resulted in a substantial settlement against several pesticide manufacturers;

Successfully litigating property damage cases against large multi-national oil companies, resulting in settlements which provided for monetary compensation to his clients and the clean-up of contaminated properties;

Defending petrochemical companies and railroad companies against sprawling class action and mass tort cases, including at trial;

Litigating complicated environmental insurance coverage cases involving large corporate insureds;

Representing insureds in efforts to obtain coverage under different types of insurance policies;

Representing parties in two separate inter-family corporate disputes, both of which were decided by juries in his clients’ favor;

Securing a favorable jury verdict in a federal employment discrimination case.

Peter’s current practice also focuses on commercial transactions. Significant transactions that he negotiated and completed include:

A multi-million dollar asset purchase agreement in which his client sold the assets of his business to a major broker-dealer;

Separate asset purchase agreements in which his client purchased three subsidiary units of a company in bankruptcy from the bankruptcy estate;

The sale of the assets of one of the largest auto parts stores in New York City;

An Asset Purchase Agreement in which his clients sold the assets of their insurance brokerage business;

A stock purchase agreement and shareholder agreement by which his client integrated a European corporation into his chemical business; and

A complicated loan agreement in which his client secured funding from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to develop a business in Liberia; and,

The sale of a majority stockholder interest in a successful FINRA registered broker-dealer.

In addition, Peter often handles real estate and general commercial matters. He conducts real estate closings, prepares wills and trusts for his clients’ estate plans, commercial leases, shareholder and limited liability company operating agreements, and handles the various commercial needs of his clients. Peter also handles many physicians’ commercial needs.

Peter served as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Tulane Law School for ten years, where he taught trial practice to third year law students. He has served as a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars, and also co-chaired a task force that advised an incoming Mayor of the City of New Orleans on how to implement an Inspector General department into city government.

Honors

• Super Lawyers

• Martindale-Hubbell A-V Rated

Tulane Law School, 1988-1989. Student Practitioner, Tulane Law School Criminal Law Clinic, 1988-1989. Judicial Extern to Hon. Alvin B. Rubin, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1988. Adjunct Professor, Trial Advocacy, Tulane Law School, 1995-2005. Assistant District Attorney, New York County, 1989-1994. Member: Louisiana State Bar Association.