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.
OUR FIRM
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.
SOME OF THE FIRM’S BIGGEST VICTORIES ARE THE FLAWED HEADLINES THAT NEVER GET PUBLISHED AND THE FALSE STORIES YOU NEVER READ ABOUT IN THE NEWS.
OUR PROFESSIONALS
PARTNERS & COUNSEL
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.
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