Clifton S. Elgarten, resident in the DC office and frequent visitor to the New York office, received his BA, magna cum laude, in 1975 from the City College of New York and his JD, summa cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, in 1979. After graduating from law school, he was law clerk to the Honorable Louis H. Pollak, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and later to the Honorable William J. Brennan, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court. He is a member of the bars of the State of New York and the District of Columbia.
Cliff's diverse practice tends to focus on commercial disputes. In recent years, he has divided his time between appeals, arbitrations and trial court work. His trial work involves practice before arbitrators, judges and juries, on topics ranging from breach of contract and fraud, terminations, non-competition agreements, competitive bidding, teaming agreements, insurance and, in the international arena, expropriations. He has represented bankruptcy estates and, in 2008 concluded a representation of the Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., obtaining recoveries in excess of $1.6 billion from financial institutions that were alleged to have contributed to Enron's collapse.
In the realm of insurance coverage, he has litigated issues concerning late notice, allocation, the duty to defend, and bad faith in both products liability and environmental contamination contexts. He has successfully handled appeals on a range of insurance topics in both state and federal courts.
More recently, in the arena of international arbitration, Cliff has brought cases to final hearing against Israel, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkey, including several investor-state cases.
Cliff has been a longstanding part of the firm's practice in pursuing claims for victims of international terrorism. He has been involved both in court litigation and the claims process before the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, particularly in connection with the Libya claims recovery process.
Over the course of his career, appellate advocacy has been a primary practice area, covering the gamut of cases and appellate issues in both state and federal court. He was recently listed as a Washington SuperLawyer for Appellate Litigation.
Publications
· "The Future Claims Representative in Prepackaged Asbestos Bankruptcies: Conflicts of Interest, Strange Alliances, and Unfamiliar Duties for Burdened Bankruptcy Courts," New York University Annual Survey of American Law, Vol. 62, No. 2 (August 7, 2006). Co-Authors: Mark D. Plevin, Clifton S. Elgarten and Leslie A. Davis.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "Crowell & Moring Files Amicus Brief In Support of Cert Petitions Seeking Review of the Ninth Circuit's Ruling on Clean Water Act Permitting for Forest Roads," Environment & Natural Resources Law Alert (October 21, 2011). Contacts: Clifton S. Elgarten, Kirsten L. Nathanson, David Chung.
· "The Fourth Circuit Derails Class Action by Sending Conspiracy Claims to Individual Arbitrations," Antitrust Law Alert (October 17, 2007). Contacts: Kent A. Gardiner, Clifton S. Elgarten, Shari Ross Lahlou.
· "Hot Bench For Antitrust Cases," Antitrust Law Alert (December 20, 2006). Contacts: Jeffrey H. Howard, Christopher E. Ondeck, Clifton S. Elgarten.