“Tom is a trusted strategic advisor for Dominion, and we rely on his judgment, instinct and experience in defamation matters. We are lucky to work with him and his firm.”
JOHN POULOS
CEO, DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS
Clare Locke announces global alliance with Schillings in the UK and Giles George in Australia.
READ PRESS RELEASE
“The best plaintiff-side defamation law firm in the United States.”
BRUCE SANFORD
EXPERT FIRST AMENDMENT LAWYER
“Media assassins.”
THE DAILY BEAST
Tom Clare & Libby Locke
named Band 1 lawyers for
First Amendment litigation.
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS
Libby Locke is named to
DC's Top 40 Under 40.
THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL
“One of the most feared litigation firms in the country.”
BTI
“They are worthy adversaries, and they are very good
at what they do.”
LEE LEVINE
EXPERT FIRST AMENDMENT LITIGATOR
“Libby Locke is
as good as they get.”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS
“Tom is thorough,
meticulous and an
excellent oral advocate.”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS
“Tom Clare is perhaps the best plaintiff's First Amendment lawyer in the entire country.”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS
“They know where to press
and what will have an effect.”
THE DAILY BEAST
“Libby Locke is aggressive
and not afraid to litigate.”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS
A BOUTIQUE LAW FIRM
Clare Locke is dedicated to litigating complex defamation matters and representing clients facing high-profile reputational attacks.
Extensive experience representing clients against major print, broadcast, and online media outlets.
Thank God I was led to Clare Locke LLP. They obtained a complete retraction of a defamatory article published in the International Business Times attacking the integrity of my analysis of satellite images in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. With the false articles removed from the internet, the credibility of my work on this important project remains intact.
Michael Hoebel
Malaysian Airlines Search Volunteer
I can give my strongest and unqualified endorsement of Tom Clare and Libby Locke and their legal firm specializing in media and press and reputational issues. In 40 years in public life, I have never encountered anyone whose professionalism and integrity I respected more greatly.
General Barry McCaffrey
Former SOUTHCOM Commander & Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
At my urging, Clare Locke has been an essential member of crisis management teams for large corporations and high-profile individuals alike, and serve as my own counsel on media and defamation matters.
Eric Dezenhall
Crisis Management Consultant
OUR FIRM
Our clients are Fortune 100 companies, hedge funds, private equity firms, professional sports teams, CEOs, journalists, and other prominent individuals who – by virtue of their success, public profile, and nationally recognized brands – are unfairly targeted by the media.
Pre-publication
Counseling
When it comes to reputational attacks, some of our biggest victories are the flawed stories that never get published and the scandals you never read about in the news. Our unique approach causes publishers to exercise meaningful editorial and legal judgment before going to print.
Post-publication
Retractions
When the media rushes to print, we work to correct the record and obtain corrections, retractions, and apologies for damaging falsehoods — and we discourage other outlets from republishing the false narrative.
Defamation
Litigation
Understanding the obstacles that the First Amendment poses for defamation plaintiffs — and avoiding the pitfalls in these unique actions — is what separates us from other firms. We are the only plaintiff-side firm to have won multiple public-figure defamation jury verdicts in the past five years.
GLOBAL REACH
In an innovative new arrangement, Clare Locke has joined forces with two of the world’s leading reputation law firms to create a new coalition of high-stakes problem solvers.
Clare Locke is now part of a strategic alliance with Schillings in the United Kingdom and Giles George in Australia. Together, our global reach will offer clients an unrivaled set of capabilities and service coverage, with a global team of best-in-class operators in key international hubs.
OUR PROFESSIONALS
OUR CASES
Dominion’s Historic $787.5 Million Settlement With Fox News
On April 18, 2023, Clare Locke, along with co-counsel Susman Godfrey and Farnan LLP, secured for its client, Dominion Voting Systems, the “largest publicly known defamation settlement in US History involving a media company.” Dominion was the subject of a sustained, months-long defamatory campaign by Fox News and the guests it invited on the air to spread lies that Dominion rigged the 2020 election. A month earlier, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis had ruled that the “evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that it is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” Clare Locke remains counsel of record for Dominion in six other defamation cases against Newsmax, One America News Network, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, MyPillow, Inc., and its CEO, and Patrick Byrne, each of which have survived motions to dismiss and are in active discovery.
RECORD FINRA WIN
Clare Locke won a Finra-record $52.125 million defamation judgment on behalf of client Daniel Michalow against his former employer DE Shaw, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, after the firm falsely claimed it had fired Mr. Michalow because of allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct. The award was “the largest ever handed down by Finra for a dispute within the industry, and the largest overall for the last five years.” Following the 25-day arbitration, the Finra Panel also determined that Mr. Michalow “did not commit sexual misconduct” in addition to making its record award.
McLIBEL LITIGATION
Clare Locke filed a $900 million case against McDonald’s and obtained two early injunctions in a case against McDonald’s McFlurry machine maker Taylor Co. and the head of McDonald’s equipment team. The cases were filed for Kytch—the developer of an innovative IoT solution to fix McDonald’s notoriously broken McFlurry machines—after defendants sought to obtain Kytch’s trade secrets while simultaneously misrepresenting that Kytch was unsafe.
RARE ANTI-SLAPP WIN AGAINST THE NEW YORK TIMES
Clare Locke sued The New York Times for articles labeling a groundbreaking Project Veritas report “false,” “deceptive,” and “without evidence.” The Times asked the Court to throw out the case. But the New York Supreme Court denied The Times’ motion, holding that Clare Locke showed “there is a substantial basis in law and fact that Defendants acted with actual malice.” Veritas’ case is the first to survive under New York’s newly-amended anti-SLAPP law.
A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT
After a three-week federal jury trial, Clare Locke won a unanimous verdict for false and defamatory statements in Rolling Stone’s now-discredited article, “A Rape on Campus,” on behalf of University of Virginia Dean Nicole Eramo.
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT
Clare Locke secured an unprecedented $3.375 million settlement from the Southern Poverty Law Center for British Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation based on defamatory statements in the SPLC’s Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.
APPELLATE WIN AGAINST THE NEW YORK TIMES
Clare Locke achieved a rare victory against The New York Times for Gov. Sarah Palin. After the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the case, Clare Locke was retained as appellate counsel and convinced the Second Circuit to reverse and remand the case to begin discovery.
DEFAMATION LIABILITY VERDICT
Clare Locke won a $26 million verdict against Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI), for which the National Law Journal recognized, Tom Clare and Libby Locke as 2019 Masters of the Courtroom. Locke impeached Puma CEO Alan Auerbach repeatedly on cross-examination—and Judge James C. Dever found that Auerbach “was a particularly non-credible witness,” that “it is really hard to describe how incredible (i.e., disastrous) a witness Auerbach was.” A unanimous jury found that Auerbach made defamatory statements to investors, on which Puma’s outside counsel, Latham & Watkins, had consulted, advised, and refused to retract. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the liability verdict and—after observing that the damages award was ten times the size of the largest defamation award in North Carolina history—remanded the case for a new trial on damages alone.
HARALD MCPIKE v. SPACE ADVENTURES
Clare Locke represented international adventurer and businessman Harald McPike in a $7 million dispute over a flight around the moon. Clare Locke secured a settlement on behalf of McPike after defeating the space tourism company’s bids to have the case dismissed.