Matthew Bergman

Matthew Bergman grew up in Seattle, Washington and attended Seattle Public Schools. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon were he attained his BA in Sociology in 1986. After college, Bergman attended Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland graduating magna cum laude in 1989. Following law school, Bergman spent two years as Law Clerk to Judge Baldock of the United States Court of Appeals-Tenth Circuit.

Bergman then spent 4 years as an associate at Heller, Erhman White & McAuliffe in Seattle where his practice focused on environmental litigation, Indian law and insurance coverage litigation. Bergman is a member of the Washington and Oregon bar associations.

In 1995 Bergman left his large law firm and began representing asbestos victims. In 1997, he formed his own law firm, currently named Bergman Draper & Frockt, which has grown to become the preeminent plaintiffs asbestos law firm in the Pacific Northwest. Bergman Draper & Frockt has represented over 500 asbestos victims and recovered over $200 million from the manufacturers and distributors of asbestos products. Bergman has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by Washington Law & Politics each year from 2003 through 2009.

Bergman is nationally known for his work on behalf of asbestos victims and has served on the creditors committees in the Owens Corning; Dresser/Halliburton; AC& S; GAF; A.P. Green; THAN; ARTRA; Kaiser Aluminum; E.J. Bartells bankruptcies. Currently, Bergman serves on the Trust Advisory Committee of the Owens Corning, Kaiser Aluminum, Combustion Engineering, ARTRA, and AC&S trusts which administers over $10 billion in assets on behalf of asbestos victims.

Bergman has been active in state and national politics, serving as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Bergman has testified before the United States Congress and Washington State Legislature as asbestos legislative issues and spoken at national and international seminars on Asbestos Litigation.

Mr. Bergman was presented with the Distinguished Alumni award from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2009.