Benjamin Clarke is a partner in the Teaneck office of DeCotiis. He joined the firm as a partner in 1995. He is Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.
Mr. Clarke’s accomplishments in the field of complex civil litigation have earned him widespread recognition, including an AV peer rating in Martindale Hubbell (highest rating), and designation as a New Jersey Super Lawyer. With more than 50 reported decisions to his credit, Mr. Clarke has made a career of handling high-profile matters from trial through final appeal. Recently, his advocacy resulted in multi-billionaire Ronald O. Perelman’s trial attorneys being assessed the largest frivolous litigation sanction in New Jersey history. Other exemplary cases include his representation of the New Jersey State Police in individual and class action suits arising out of the “racial profiling” Turnpike controversy, defeat of Donald Trump’s efforts to block development of Atlantic City’s Marina District and construction of the Borgata, and successful defense of the Chief Justice of New Jersey against charges of film censorship. Mr. Clarke has a diverse and broad practice of commercial and tort litigation, with areas of concentration in civil rights law, construction law, employment law, estate law, government law, insurance coverage and defense.

Before joining DeCotiis, Mr. Clarke spent twelve years with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, where, as Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Litigation, he was responsible for all civil litigation involving the State of New Jersey, its agencies and employees, and for supervising the litigation activities of more than 400 attorneys in the Division of Law. In addition to arguing numerous cases before the Supreme Court of New Jersey, such as Abbott v. Burke, and acting as lead trial counsel in many prominent cases in state and federal court, Mr. Clarke also acted as the liaison to UMDNJ’s Risk Management Department, in which capacity he oversaw all of that institution’s medical malpractice litigation.

Mr. Clarke graduated first in his class at Rutgers College (B.A., English, 1976), and attended Yale Law School (J.D., 1979). He was fortunate to serve as a law clerk to the Hon. Milton Pollack, U.S.D.J., in the Southern District of New York, whose innovations in civil procedure and civil discovery have had a profound and lasting influence on modern federal practice.

DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin

DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Giblin, LLP, is a sixty plus-lawyer, full-service firm headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey. We are a group of exceptionally skilled, experienced attorneys, who practice in a wide variety of specialties. A partial list of our practice areas includes real estate, labor law, public procurement, litigation, environmental law, public finance, tax, municipal law, government and regulatory affairs, healthcare law, corporate law, banking and bankruptcy.

Although we represent regional and national clients, we are a firm with very deep roots in New Jersey. The majority of our attorneys are lifetime New Jersey residents, and our lawyers have extensive experience in New Jersey government and political affairs, many at senior levels. Our depth of experience and understanding of the unique legal, legislative and administrative environment in New Jersey gives us the unique ability to help our clients navigate the intricacies that doing business in our state can require.

We are a firm that specializes in delivering innovative solutions. Our attorneys have an unparalleled ability to collaborate across practice groups, and to devise and implement effective, often novel, approaches to legal issues. These solutions range from helping finance green technologies to completing large, complex transactions to successfully defending major litigation matters.

We are also a firm that emphasizes practical legal thinking and consistently focuses on helping our clients achieve their objectives and get things done. Our attorneys frequently work closely with colleagues across practice groups to arrive at solutions that address a client’s specific needs and situation. We believe that our counsel services our client’s priorities, and we strive to provide legal counsel that is unmatched in expertise, responsiveness and cost-effectiveness for every client, in every matter, every time.

Many of our attorneys have decades of experience working in the State Attorney Generals’ Office, Prosecutor’s Offices, Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office — Civil, criminal, fraud and security units, while others worked in-house for Fortune 100 legal departments. The background of our attorneys, combined with our legal and business experience, provides our Firm with the ability to provide superior representation to our clients.