Robert E. Gerber is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of New York. At the time of his appointment in 2000, he was a partner in the New York City law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where he specialized in securities and commercial litigation and, thereafter, bankruptcy litigation and counseling.

Judge Gerber earned a B.S. degree from Rutgers University, from which he graduated, with high honors, in 1967, and a J.D. degree from Columbia University, from which he graduated, magna cum laude, in 1970, and where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone and James Kent Scholar.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Gerber joined the Fried Frank firm, and with a brief interruption in 1971 and 1972, during which he served in the United States Air Force, Judge Gerber was with Fried Frank for 30 years, 22 of them as a partner. From 1970 to 1989, he litigated securities and commercial cases, along with bankruptcy matters, and also kept up a meaningful pro bono caseload -- including the ultimately successful representation, over 10 years in post-conviction proceedings, of a Florida inmate who had been sentenced to death. He practiced very nearly entirely in the bankruptcy area over his last 11 years of private practice, representing debtors and creditors