Scott Berman


Berman North • Palo Alto


For the past 20 years, Scott Berman has dedicated his career to defending the rights of both employers and employees in California, handling complex cases involving wrongful termination, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, and discrimination based on religion and gender.


"I was drawn to this field because it's personal and meaningful," he said. "The people I represent have had a major crisis in their life and need help in a concrete way -- restoring their job, their benefits, their earnings. I'm making an immediate impact on someone's life. This work is more than just a business transaction. I'm helping resolve a wrong that's turned someone's life upside down."


Berman has a notable track record of securing significant settlements, particularly in cases where employees were misled by false promises of stock options. He said these cases often reveal a pattern of employees being deprived of rightfully earned stock, either through non-issuance, undervaluation, or premature termination before vesting. 


One case that Berman handled involved an employee who, after exercising a substantial number of stock options and leaving the company, was offered a "fair market value" of zero by the company for his shares. This valuation occurred just before the company went public, which would have rendered the shares worth several million dollars, Berman said. He argued that this practice of confiscating vested shares was not only harsh but also highly unusual and unlawful, as it rendered vested equity worthless unless employees remained with the company indefinitely. The case was confidentially resolved in July 2023.


In another instance, Berman represented a high-level marketing employee at a startup who was promised significant stock options. When the employee raised concerns about the failure to issue these options, the employer responded by granting the options but then terminated the employee to prevent vesting. This case highlighted the problematic practice prevalent in Silicon Valley of promising equity to employees, delaying or failing to issue it, and then dismissing the employees when they seek to hold the company accountable. This case also reached a confidential resolution in April 2024.


"The main obstacle is winning the argument that these cases are wrongful termination and fraud: the company never intended to give these employees stock in the company or allow them to vest their stock options," Berman said. "Meanwhile, the company will argue that employment is at-will, and they are allowed to make a decision that an employee lacks the right qualifications to become an owner in the company, for example, even if that decision to terminate them comes within a month of them vesting in their stock options."


He also noted that startup companies trade on the fantasy of stock options turning into a lottery ticket. 


"So, while they pay their employees a salary, the allure is in the stock options," he said. "But the stock options can be manipulated so that employees can't be vested in even a portion of the stock until they reach the one-year mark, for example."