Sherrie Savett has done it all in Philadelphia, spending five decades working at the law firm Berger Montague and becoming an executive shareholder, plus being actively involved in Jewish communal life through various leadership opportunities.
The Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim member has typically worked on class action securities fraud cases and whistleblower cases, with the firm recovering over $3 billion for state and federal governments under her leadership.
Savett’s passion and commitment to Jewish life have also grown substantially over the years, as she describes a major shift that occurred when she was 15 and learned about the Holocaust by reading the book “Exodus.”
The Bryn Mawr resident said she didn’t learn about the Holocaust in Hebrew school, and was from an area that was heavily Jewish, with her upbringing being free from any serious antisemitism.
“I came from a lovely, warm Jewish family that celebrated holidays casually, but there was virtually no Jewish education on any level. It just was the customs and the warmth,” Savett said. “I went to a Conservative synagogue in Mount Airy, where I grew up, but I only remember them teaching me to memorize prayers and urging me to go to Shabbat services. I don’t remember really understanding much about what it really meant to be Jewish.”
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Savett was starting out as a lawyer at Berger Montague, joining a profession that was male-dominated.
She added that Berger Montague consistently held positive attitudes toward women in the profession and treated her as an equal, but she still makes a point to continue creating a work environment welcoming to women and assisting them through their early careers.
“In our law firm, I think about 40% of the lawyers are women, and there are many women partners. I think I did have a significant role in serving as a friend and role model for a lot of these younger women who were coming up,” Savett said.
Savett’s Jewish connection experienced another shift when the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia sent her a letter when she was 28, highlighting her as a potential future leader of the local Jewish community.
“I got a letter from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia out of the clear blue sky that said, we have identified you as a future leader of the Philadelphia Jewish community, and we are inviting you on an all-expenses-paid mission to Israel,” Savett said.
Memories of that trip still bring back a flood of emotion for Savett, who visited during Yom HaZikaron. On that day, Savett recalls a siren, bringing the entire city to a stop in remembrance.
“We were on a busy street in Tel Aviv; the cars stopped. People were walking on the streets, in the stores; everything stopped. People got out of their cars. People stopped what they were doing, and they had several moments of just remembrance and silence and support for those that had been lost,” Savett said. “It just seared my soul. The love that I felt at that moment for the Jewish people was so tremendous. It’s never left me.”
Later that day, her group visited Mount Herzl and the military cemetery at the grave of Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of the prime minister, who was shot and killed rescuing Jewish hostages during Operation Entebbe in Uganda in 1976.
The trip inspired Savett to become involved with the Federation, rising to become chair of the board from 2011-2014. She called that opportunity “the greatest honor” of her life.
“During those years, I met many people equally committed, like myself, and they became my friends for life,” Savett recalled.
But her work didn’t stop with the Federation, as Savett took on various roles with the American Jewish Committee, Israel Bonds, the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, American Associates of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, PJ Library and an organization called Momentum, which she described as “Birthright for young mothers.”
During the pandemic, Savett and her partner Vitaly Rakhman founded the nonprofit organization the Jewish Emergency Preparedness Project. The organization trains Jewish institutions to cope with emergencies and be ready when they occur.
Savett’s Jewish communal work and exceptional legal career earned her recognition from the AJC in 2025.
“Now, I just want to do whatever I can to improve the lives of Jewish people, to celebrate being Jewish, to protect Jewish people,” Savett said.
