Bernstein Litowitz Corporate Governance Head Goes His Own Way

A Manhattan lawyer who helped challenge Elon Musk’s $55.8 billion dollar Tesla pay package is leaving securities firm Bernstein Litowitz to launch a rival, taking at least four other partners with him.

Jeroen van Kwawegen, who served as the head of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann’s corporate governance practice, is launching a new firm: JVK Law. The firm will focus on corporate governance matters and represent institutional US and EU investors in high-stakes corporate disputes.

The latest changes in the regulatory space are weakening the guard rails that protect institutional investors, according to van Kwawegen.

“Our clients more than ever need counsel that understands this on a deep, fundamental level and is also willing to do something about it by, for example, if necessary taking cases to trial and having the track record to do that,” van Kwawegen said in an interview.

JVK Law plans offices in New York, Delaware, and Los Angeles. The fledgling firm says it is still negotiating leases in those locations.

Ex-Bernstein partner Andrew Blumberg will run JVK’s Delaware outpost. Other Bernstein recruits, including Tom James, Eric Reidel, Edward Timlin, Dan Meyer, Ben Potts, and Lauren Cruz, are joining JVK as partners. Another dozen or so other attorneys and paralegals from Bernstein Litowitz are also joining JVK Law across its three locations.

The firm will use contingency-fee pricing and van Kwawegen says he is open to utilizing litigation financing.

He says he wishes his former firm all the best going forward.

“Ultimately what really happened is we just had a fundamentally different vision about what the law firm should look like, what the culture is that you should have and, and whose interests you should be serving first, that includes, for example, being ready to take cases to trial,” van Kwawegen.

Van Kwawegen was part of the Bernstein team that challenged Musk’s executive pay package at Tesla. Investors ultimately approved a $1 trillion compensation package for Musk last month. He was also part of the trial team that secured a $1 billion settlement from Wells Fargo to resolve a federal securities class action lawsuit.

Van Kwawegen sees the firm building out a securities litigation practice and adding more attorneys to the firm over time.

“I could envision us doubling in size or so in the next six months to a year,” he said.