Who Is Barry Berke? Judiciary Committee’s Lawyer Will Present Impeachment Case

WASHINGTON — When Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee present their opening arguments for impeaching President Trump on Monday, they will turn not to a seasoned prosecutor but to one of the nation’s leading defense lawyers to set the stage.

Barry H. Berke, a New York-based white-collar defense lawyer, has served as the special oversight counsel to the committee since February, working to build the investigative framework that now appears destined to end in the impeachment of Mr. Trump. On Monday, he will take a rare turn at the witness table to present for 30 minutes the facts before the committee and how they square with the law.

Mr. Berke will not be the only House lawyer publicly presenting on Monday. Daniel S. Goldman of the Intelligence Committee will orally present his panel’s two-month inquiry concluding that Mr. Trump abused his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. Stephen R. Castor will represent Republicans on both the judiciary and intelligence panels.

But Mr. Berke will be the first witness to speak, setting the tone for the proceeding and a week that could end with the Judiciary Committee voting to recommend impeachment articles.

Along with Norman L. Eisen, a former top Obama White House ethics lawyer, Mr. Berke has consulted with the committee since Democrats retook the majority this year to organize and carry out a sprawling investigation into possible abuse of power and obstruction of justice by Mr. Trump. He has helped draft subpoenas for testimony and records, questions for key hearings and, most recently, articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump.

Before they joined the committee, Mr. Berke and Mr. Eisen wrote a series of reports on obstruction of justice, collusion and Mr. Trump for the Brookings Institution.

In September, during his only other appearance before television cameras, Mr. Berke’s cross-examination of Corey Lewandowski elicited an admission from Mr. Lewandowski that he had been dishonest in a television interview about his role in a scheme by Mr. Trump to curtail the Mueller investigation.

“I have no obligation not to be dishonest to the media because they are as dishonest as anybody else,” Mr. Lewandowski said.

Republicans have bitterly complained about Mr. Berke and Mr. Eisen, arguing that the hiring of outside legal consultants constitutes the “privatization of impeachment.”

A graduate of Duke and Harvard Law School, Mr. Berke worked for four years in the federal defender’s office of the Southern District of New York. He joined Kramer Levin in New York in the 1990s and built a practice around complicated financial and tax crimes and a reputation as one of the leading cross-examiners in the country. He is on leave from the firm, taking the train to Washington each week.

In 2011, Mr. Berke’s defense of a former Deutsche Bank broker accused of marketing fraudulent tax shelters set the New York legal world atwitter with the novel use of a simple prop: his red hankie. When he cross-examined the government’s star witness, a tax lawyer involved in the scheme, Mr. Berke asked him to take part in some role play. When the handkerchief was in his pocket, the witness was to treat Mr. Berke like a potential client and give him the pitch the witness had given real-life clients about why the shelters worked.

After four days of questioning, Mr. Berke successfully undermined the prosecution’s case and his client was acquitted; four co-defendants not represented by Mr. Berke were convicted.

Paul H. Schoeman, who worked with him on the case, said the flare of creativity was quintessential Mr. Berke.

“In New York legal circles, Barry’s performance in that trial was a real event,” Mr. Schoeman said. “He is really creative and inventive in his thinking, and he combines that with incredible preparation and hard work. It’s not just a good idea; it’s well executed.”

Mr. Berke has also been active in New York Democratic circles, and he is no stranger to high-profile political cases. In recent years, he represented Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York in a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, which concluded in 2017 without charges being filed.