He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in English.

He served three years in the U.S. Navy, stationed out of Treasure Island, California, achieving the rank of lieutenant junior grade.

Berg was the executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, a public interest law firm in Miami which he established in 1978.

He has conducted and been involved in numerous individual and class action lawsuits that strive to improve conditions in Florida's prison and jails.

IOLTA has created over $5 billion nationwide to primarily fund legal services for the poor [6] In November 2018, he and FJI were named to the Daily Business Review's 2018 Most Effective Lawyers list for their public interest work in securing treatment for prisoners infected with hepatitis C.[7] Berg retired at the end of 2018, two years after initially being diagnosed with ALS.