Bert Neuborne spent decades taking on some of the most consequential civil liberties cases in America. But Part 2 of his conversation with Neal Goldstein is about something no courtroom victory could prepare him for. The death of his 27-year-old daughter, Lauren. Lauren died of heart failure during her final year of rabbinical school. Bert continued teaching because he felt a responsibility to his students. After class, he wandered the streets of Greenwich Village, often crying. For a period, he says he could not perceive color. He believed he might never experience joy again. This part of Bert's story is also about marriage. His wife, Helen, had helped put him through law school and supported his decision to leave Wall Street for civil liberties work. Later, when Helen wanted to attend law school herself, Bert moved into teaching in part so he could have more control over his time and become the primary parent to their two daughters. After Lauren died, Bert and Helen grieved differently, but they endured it together. Looking back, Bert tells Neal he does not think he would have made it through alone without her. Work also became a way forward. A friend urged Bert to find something meaningful that could connect him to Lauren. That advice eventually led him into litigation against Swiss banks over assets deposited by people trying to protect their property from the Nazis. Bert initially went to court simply to observe. Instead, a federal judge spotted him sitting in the back of the courtroom and unexpectedly appointed him co-counsel in three competing class actions. The litigation ultimately produced a $1.25 billion settlement for Holocaust victims. But winning created another moral problem. There was not enough money to fully compensate everyone. A traditional adversarial process could have forced different groups of Holocaust survivors to fight one another over their portions of the settlement. Bert could not accept that. He helped create a different process intended to preserve the dignity and solidarity of the victims. But when allocation decisions inevitably benefited some groups over others, some of the very people Bert was trying to help believed he had betrayed them. Decades later, Neal asks what he would do differently. Bert says he would do exactly the same thing. The Swiss bank litigation was followed by litigation involving German industry and wartime slave labor. Bert says the two efforts ultimately distributed approximately $7.5 billion to more than 450,000 people. The work gave Bert purpose after Lauren's death, but immersing himself in the experiences of Holocaust victims also changed him. His view of human nature became darker. His faith in the legal system became more complicated. As Bert explains, if he had been a painter, perhaps he would have painted something in Lauren's memory. If he could compose, perhaps he would have composed something. The closest thing to art he could create was law. The conversation eventually turns to the lessons of an extraordinary life and career. Bert talks about taking risks, avoiding the regret of opportunities never pursued, and why commitment to the craft of lawyering still matters. He also offers a different way of thinking about what lawyers do. The adversarial system sometimes requires lawyers to be warriors. But Bert believes lawyers can also be healers. And when Neal asks Bert whom he would choose if he could have one more conversation with someone he has lost, the answer is Lauren. He would want her to know that he and Helen are okay. Part 2 is a conversation about grief, marriage, purpose, moral responsibility, and what remains after the cases and accomplishments are stripped away. Subscribe to That One Lawyer Podcast for conversations about the human experiences, relationships, choices, risks, and losses behind a life in law. Libsyn Description In Part 2 of Neal Goldstein's conversation with Bert Neuborne, the story moves beyond an extraordinary legal career to the loss that changed his life. Bert and his wife, Helen, lost their 27-year-old daughter, Lauren, to heart failure during her final year of rabbinical school. Bert continued teaching, but afterward he would wander Greenwich Village crying. For a period, he could not perceive color. He believed he might never experience joy again. Bert talks candidly about grief, his marriage to Helen, and why he does not believe he would have made it through that period alone. A friend eventually encouraged Bert to find work that could meaningfully connect him to Lauren. That path led him into the litigation against Swiss banks over assets belonging to Holocaust victims. The case produced a $1.25 billion settlement, followed by an agonizing question: how do you distribute limited money among different groups of victims without forcing those victims to fight one another for it? Bert chose a path designed to preserve their dignity and solidarity. It also resulted in some of the people he was trying to help believing he had betrayed them. Asked what he would do differently today, Bert says he would make the same decision again. Bert also reflects on how Holocaust restitution work changed his view of human nature and the legal system, why law became the closest thing he has to an art form, and why lawyers do not always have to be warriors. Sometimes they can be healers. The conversation closes with risk, regret, a 65-year marriage, and the one conversation Bert wishes he could still have with Lauren. Follow or subscribe to That One Lawyer Podcast for more conversations about the people and experiences behind remarkable lives in law. 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