The Bernheim Law Firm

Steven Jay “Bernie” Bernheim is the founder and principal attorney of The Bernheim Law Firm. Mr. Bernheim is one of the country’s top attorneys practicing in the challenging field of wildfire and other catastrophe litigation, representing property owners on a contingency basis. He is also recognized as a leading expert in the California insurance industry and the laws and regulations that apply to it.

Mr. Bernheim began his career with the Los Angeles office of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson and Bridges, one of California’s oldest full service law firms, where he represented various major insurance companies in litigation and in regulatory matters.

The Bernheim Law Firm is currently focused on litigating against electric utilities on behalf of property owners whose homes or businesses were damaged or destroyed in recent wildfires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire and the 2023 Maui Fire. Mr. Bernheim is a 1983 cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where he was awarded the Harvard College Scholarship for Academic Achievement of Highest Distinction. He is a 1989 graduate of the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received his Juris Doctorate. Mr. Bernheim has been honored by the Public Justice Foundation, which selected him as one of seven finalists for National Trial Lawyer of the Year. The Foundation commended Mr. Bernheim for “single-handed efforts that exposed corporate crime and resulted in a great victory for consumers” in California catastrophe litigation.

Mr. Semerdjian is Of Counsel to The Bernheim Law Firm. In 1999, Mr. Semerdjian achieved two undergraduate degrees, both of them magna cum laude, from the University of California at Irvine – one in political science and the other in international studies. Mr. Semerdjian was honored with membership in both Phi Beta Kappa and the Golden Key Honor Society, and was named to the Dean’s Honor List nine times. The Chancellor of the University appointed him to the Council on Student Fees.