Marni S. Berger is a Partner at Anapol Weiss who focuses her legal practice on advocating for abuse victims, fighting for individuals denied insurance coverage, and securing recovery for cases involving medical negligence, birth injuries, and product liability. She is passionate about helping the most vulnerable members of the population in matters involving the subject of sexual assault and trafficking, institutional and domestic child abuse, Title IX and civil rights violations. She is also dedicated to holding insurers and insurance brokers accountable for procuring inadequate coverage and failing to provide the coverage owed.
An Outstanding Legal Background
Marni earned her J.D. from Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law in 2010 where she interned for the Honorable Richard B. Klein (Ret.) of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. She earned a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Political Communication from The George Washington University in 2006. Marni frequently lectures on emerging issues affecting victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse and overcoming the insurance hurdles that oftentimes exist in cases involving such abuse.
Diverse Litigation Experience
Marni is a trial lawyer with litigation experience in federal and state courts nationwide. Working with Marni means collaborating with a compassionate and patient attorney who actively listens and tirelessly fights for justice. Her approach to each case comes with creative thinking, transparency, and a consistent line of communication.
She is accustomed to litigating matters against institutions of all shapes and sizes who have deprived her clients of their fundamental rights. Whether her clients need representation against a school, daycare, camp, medical facility, insurance company, or another individual, she is a zealous advocate throughout all phases of litigation. She has negotiated high-value settlements and successfully arbitrated and mediated matters involving multiple institutional defendants and insurers.
Marni has won numerous dispositive motions. She recently overcame a motion to dismiss involving timeliness of Title IX claims brought by a university student under the 2019 amendments to the Pennsylvania tolling statute. She also recently overcame a dispositive motion in a police-involved shooting matter in which the defendant contended he was entitled to qualified immunity. She has also achieved great success in briefing disputes involving allegations of bad faith and improper claims handling under commercial and personal line insurance policies. When she is not actively litigating cases, Marni is consulting clients on all options available to them in holding their wrongdoers accountable so they understand their rights and can proceed accordingly.
A Creative Approach to Claims
Marni excels at finding innovative approaches to secure and maximize recovery, even in the face of complexity or seemingly insurmountable challenges.
For example, she has successfully initiated cases against insurance brokers for their failure to procure the appropriate coverage on behalf of their clients, even though the plaintiff lacks the legal right to directly sue the defendant’s insurer. The creative solution she employs involves the defendant voluntarily transferring their legal rights to the injured plaintiff to pursue an insurance recovery for the betterment of the plaintiff. A plaintiff assigned a defendant’s rights can sometimes initiate legal action against the defendant’s insurer for the appropriate insurance coverage.
In another example, she secured a settlement against a preschool that exceeded the policy limitation for sexual abuse and molestation. She achieved this favorable result for her client by skillfully pleading the case, demonstrating her creative approach to making her clients whole.
Admissions, Awards & Memberships
Marni was admitted to practice law in 2010. She has practiced in each of the federal, district, and state trial courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and served as national and local counsel for clients outside of these jurisdictions.
Her awards include:
• Recognized by Best Lawyers in America® – Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs 2024
• Named by Peers to the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars List from 2015-2024
• Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania – National Trial Lawyers
• National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 – 2023-2024
She is a member of the National Trial Lawyers, the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association (leadership academy graduate), Pennsylvania Association for Justice, Montgomery Bar Association, and American Association for Justice.
Practice Areas
Marni concentrates her practice on:
• Sexual abuse
• Physical Abuse/Intentional Torts
• Aiding victims of crime and civil rights violations
• Insurance coverage and bad faith
• Insurance broker liability
• Mass tort
An Active Community Member
Marni is actively involved in the community in the following ways:
• Serving as a Judge Pro Tempore for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
• Mentoring law students and young lawyers within and outside of the firm
• Active involvement in the Montgomery Bar Association, Philadelphia Trial Lawyers and other organizations in the legal community
• “Sparking the Dream” Board Member