Charles L. Kerr is the Managing Partner of the New York office of Morrison & Foerster and is the former head of Morrison & Foerster’s New York Litigation Department. Mr. Kerr is also the co-chair of the firmwide Product Liability Practice Group. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, complex business litigation and regulatory enforcement on behalf of both companies and financial institutions. Mr. Kerr has particular experience in cases involving complex financial matters, insurance coverage and product liability. In the area of financial litigation, Mr. Kerr has represented and acted as lead trial counsel for a large commercial bank in a multi-jurisdictional fraud case involving money laundering and has represented financial institutions in regulatory investigations and related enforcement actions. He has also litigated complex insurance coverage matters in both federal and state courts and in international arbitration proceedings in Europe and the United States. Mr. Kerr has also tried product liability cases for major manufacturers and advises clients in the United States and overseas on product liability and related issues. He regularly appears in federal and state courts throughout the United States, at both the trial and the appellate levels.

Mr. Kerr is a member of the New York Bar. He is a member of the New York State and American Bar associations, the New York County Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He served as a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Standing Committee on Legal Assistance from 1987 to 1990 and as a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Committee on the Recruitment of Lawyers from 1990 to 1992. In 1998, he was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Award by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Kerr has participated in seminars sponsored by various Bar associations and trade groups and regularly speaks and writes on a range of legal issues involving product liability, privacy and insurance law.

Mr. Kerr was born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1956. He received his B.A. degree from Brown University with honors in 1978 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, cum laude, in 1982. Mr. Kerr was a Note and Comment Editor for the New York University Law Review and was elected to Order of the Coif. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable James Hunter, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, during 1982 and 1983. In 1983, Mr. Kerr associated with Parker, Auspitz, Neesemann & Delehanty, which subsequently merged into Morrison & Foerster in October 1987. He became a partner of Morrison & Foerster in 1990 and served as head of the New York.

Litigation Practice Group from 2000 to 2007. Mr. Kerr has been recognized as a “New York Super Lawyer” in the area of Business Litigation.

Mr. Kerr is experienced in representing clients in significant civil cases, including:

• In re Air Crash Near Peixoto de Azevedo, Brazil, on September 29, 2006, No. 07-md-1844 (BMC) (E.D.N.Y.). One of two Court-appointed Liaison Counsel for the defendants in a consolidated Multi-District Litigation involving over 100 wrongful death actions arising out the collision of two jet airliners over the Brazilian Amazon.
• In re West Caribbean Airways Crew Members, Case No. 07-22015-CIV (S.D. Fla.). Lead counsel for Honeywell International in seven consolidated wrongful death actions arising out of the crash of a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 in Venezuela.
• VOOM HD Holdings LLC v. EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., Index No. 600292/08 (N.Y. Sup.). Lead counsel for EchoStar in a billion dollar breach of contract action arising out of an Affiliation Agreement for the distribution of High Definition television programming.
• NFL Enterprises LLC v. EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., Index No. 600556/08 (N.Y. Sup.). Lead counsel for EchoStar in a breach of contract action in connection with the distribution of certain NFL programming on the NFL Network.
• Wight v. BankAmerica Corporation, et al., No. 98 Civ. 2010 (RPP) (S.D.N.Y.). Lead trial counsel for the Bank of America in a $650 million fraud case brought by the Liquidators of BCCI. The Liquidators claimed that the Bank had aided and abetted the management of BCCI in connection with an international money laundering conspiracy between BCCI and one of its largest banking clients. After several years of pre-trial proceedings and discovery, the matter was successfully settled through mediation.
• EchoStar Satellite Corporation, et al. v. La Réunion Spatiale, et al., Case No. 50 J 153 00258 00 (AAA). Trial counsel for the owner of a satellite in two international arbitrations involving claims for insurance coverage under various launch insurance policies for a satellite that failed shortly after launch.
• Liberty Mut. Ins. v. Lone Star Industries, et al., Docket No. X02-CV-04-4001208-S (Conn. Super. Ct.). Lead trial counsel for a large insurance company in a multi-party insurance coverage matter involving thousands of underlying claims for asbestos and silica related bodily injuries.
• Counsel for a national insurance company in connection with multiple regulatory investigations involving broker compensation and competition in the insurance industry.
• The Estate of Yaron Ungar, et al. v. Palestinian Authority, et al., Index No. 102101/06 (N.Y. Sup.). Lead counsel for an international pension fund in a dispute over ownership of pension fund assets.
• Madanes v. Madanes, No. 96 Civ. 6398 (LBS) (S.D.N.Y.). Lead counsel for an individual client asserting claims for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and RICO in related litigations pending in New York, Zurich, Switzerland, the British Virgin Islands and Buenos Aires.