Raoul Berger

Who was Raoul Berger?

Raoul Berger was an attorney and professor at The University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University School of Law. While at Harvard, he was the Charles Warren Senior Fellow in American Legal History.

He was born in Ukraine and migrated to the U.S., as a child, with his parents in 1904. He first pursued studies as a concert violinist at the Institute of Musical Art in New York that culminated in his joining the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as its 2nd Concert Master and the 1st violinist of the Cincinnati String Quartet. After earning his A.B. from the University of Cincinnati in 1932, he abandoned his professional music career to study law at Northwestern University School of Law, from which he graduated at age 35. He practiced law in Chicago before enrolling at Harvard University School of Law where he earned his Master of Laws degree in 1938. Upon his graduation, Berger worked first for the Securities and Exchange Commission, then as Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, and, finally, as Counsel to the Alien Property Custodian during World War II. Following the war, he entered private practice in Washington, D.C. where he remained until 1961.