Jerry grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn and Long Island, New York. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1979 with a degree in Government and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1983. Jerry served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review and clerked after law school for former United States District Judge William Schwarzer in the Northern District of California in San Francisco. He later obtained a French-language master’s degree in French, European and International Business Law from the University of Paris II-Assas (mention: très bien).

A member of the New York and California bars, Jerry worked in private practice for several years at two major New York firms before becoming an Assistant United States Attorney there. As a federal prosecutor, he investigated and tried a wide variety of criminal cases including narcotics, organized crime, and white-collar matters involving public and private corruption, and he obtained two awards from the Department of Justice.

Jerry later joined Munger Tolles & Olson, a premier United States law firm often voted at the top of the American Lawyer’s A-List, and headed its San Francisco office, practicing there for 27 years. He led a broad array of civil and criminal matters, focusing primarily on cross-border litigation and investigations in both civil and common law jurisdictions.

As a leader of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) for many years and its President for the 2019-20 term, Jerry collaborated extensively with international, national and local bar leaders around the globe, working to continue global legal exchange in the face of challenges posed by the early months of the pandemic and to protect the Rule of Law.  As President of UIA, Jerry also spearheaded programs for cross-border business networking, mentoring young lawyers seeking to establish an international law practice, celebrating the accomplishments of women bar leaders around the globe, and advocating for the international LGBT community.

Jerry is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of International Arbitrators.  He is an active member of the American Bar Association (for which he chaired the International Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section and now serves on the Asia Law Initiative Council); the International Bar Association; the California Lawyers’ Association; and the Bar Association of San Francisco. He is a panel member of FedArb and head its European/Latin American/African desk.

In addition to his home in the Bay Area, Jerry resides part-time in Paris. He is Vice-Chair of the Board of Opera Parallèle, San Francisco’s contemporary opera company.