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Jeff Herman
Jeff Herman (Jeffrey Herman; born 1959) is a nationally recognized trial lawyer and advocate for survivors of rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. He is the founding and managing partner of Herman, Mermelstein & Horowitz, P.A., which specializes in representing victims of sexual abuse in civil cases.

He is most noted for his lawsuits involving the sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Miami, for which he has handled over 100 cases. Herman is also noted for his landmark $100 million verdict on behalf of a client who was sexually abused by Rev. Neil Doherty, one of the largest verdicts ever against an individual priest.

Herman has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes and  New York magazine and is a contributor to The O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC, and CNN. He serves on the Board of Directors of the KidSafe Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing  the sexual abuse of children. While on MSNBC discussing the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, Herman coined the term "pedophile speak", describing the way pedophiles talk about and justify abusing children.

Legal Career
Herman earned his Juris Doctorate in 1985 from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and began practicing in Florida later that year. He had a successful practice as a commercial litigator before shifting exclusively to sexual abuse cases. Herman credited the shift to a search for meaning that has been fulfilled by seeking justice for victims of abuse.

Herman gained national attention by representing victims of clergy sexual abuse in over 100 cases against the Archdiocese of Miami. In 2003, he represented the victim in the first sexual-abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami allowed to go to trial. For years, the Catholic Church was able to have sexual abuse cases dismissed on statute of limitations technicalities. Herman became one of the first attorneys to successfully defeat this strategy- arguing that the archdiocese committed fraud by keeping a priest's sexual abuse history secret.

In 2011, Herman won a $100 million verdict for a victim of Father Neil Doherty, a priest of the Miami Archdiocese accussed of drugging and raping church youths. The result was the nation's largest jury verdict for a sexual abuse case in 2011 and one of the year's top 20 verdicts overall.

Other Notable Cases

 * In 2004, Herman represented the victims of Rev. Alvaro Guichard, a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing four children in the 1970s. Guichard unexpectedly crashed a news conference held by Herman and the family of one of Guichard's deceased victims following the filing of the lawsuit. The priest confronted the family, calling them liars and while grabbing the brother of the victim's arm. Herman was able to pull Guichard off of the brother just before police arrived on the scene. Following the incident, Guichard filed a suit against Herman, claiming he defamed him when he accused him of rape and sodomy. In 2012, the defamation suit was dismissed by the Miami-Dade Circuit Court.


 * In 2006, Herman represented an alleged victim of Anthony Mercierca, the priest accused of molesting U.S. congressman Mark Foley. The lawsuit alleged that Mercieca fondled and performed oral sex on the victim, who was a 13-year-old altar boy at St. James Church in North Miami. The suit sought $10 million in damages and settled in 2007 for an undisclosed amount.


 * In 2007, Herman represented the alleged victim of Don Walk, the former Miami Dolphins team chaplain. Walk allegedly took the boy to Dolphins games, introduced him to players, and brought him to the house of coach Don Shula while grooming the boy for abuse.


 * In 2008, Herman represented several teenage victims of billionaire investment banker Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was convicted of felony solicitation of prostitution and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution. Herman filed a civil suit alleging that the victims were as young as 14 years old when they were brought to Epstein's mansion to perform erotic massages. The suit sought $50 million in damages and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.


 * In 2012, Herman- along with attorneys Adam Horowitz and Arick Fudali- won a $3 million jury verdict on behalf of a young girl who was sexually abused at Discovery Day Care. Testimony showed that the preschooler was abused on multiple occasions by the day care director's 13-year-old son and that a center employee falsified documents related to the incident.

National Television Appearances

 * The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News Channel
 * Erin Burnett OutFront, CNN
 * The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC
 * ABC World News with Diane Sawyer

Personal Life
Herman is a practicing Jew and father of four. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio before attending the University of Arizona. He went on to Case Western Reserve University School of Law, earning his Juris Doctorate in 1985 while serving as the Editor of the Journal of International Law. In 2008, The Miami Herald profiled Herman and reported on his greatest weakness: red meat. He has a favorite steakhouse in every city, never deviating from his order of a medium rare New York strip and a side salad. Herman is also an avid collector of wine and single malt scotch.