Neal S. Berinhout

Neal S. Berinhout, vice president and associate general counsel, is responsible for consumer and commercial litigation and arbitration matters at AT&T. Mr. Berinhout joined Cingular Wireless in November 2000 as Chief Litigation Counsel. After Cingular’s two parents merged into AT&T, Mr. Berinhout became Associate General Counsel for AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets and was responsible for all litigation involving AT&T’s wireless business. He was appointed to his current position in August 2015. He has practiced law for 33 years. He graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1986. He graduated first in his class in the College of Journalism at the University of Florida, in 1979. Prior to his in-house position, Mr. Berinhout was a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton (now Kilpatrick Townsend) in Atlanta, where he specialized in complex litigation. Before he moved with his family to Atlanta, he was an associate at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, where he also specialized in complex civil litigation.

He has handled significant matters in trial courts throughout the United States and in federal and state appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Berinhout is active in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, serving on several advisory committees and, in March 2016, joining the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center Board of Directors. He was active in the San Francisco Lawyer’s Committee for Urban Affairs, served on the California Bar’s Committee on Human Rights, the Board of Directors of Georgians for Children, the Education Committee of Good Government Atlanta, the Board of Directors of Georgia First Amendment Foundation and on the Board of Directors of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. In February 2016, Mr. Berinhout was named to the National Law Journal’s inaugural list of 48 ADR Champions, recognizing leadership in alternative dispute resolution. In 2014, Mr. Berinhout was named to the National Law Journal’s inaugural list of 50 Litigation Trailblazers & Pioneers, recognizing leadership in the “fight for justice.” In 2012, he was among five international nominees for a Global Counsel Award in Litigation, sponsored by the International Law Office and Association of Corporate Counsel.