Matthew Mackenzie Clarke

Matthew Clarke has been a trial lawyer since 1996 and leads the firm’s litigation department. He has expertise in complex civil litigation and has achieved more than $100 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients. Additionally, Mr. Clarke has defended his clients in a wide variety of civil disputes.  Mr. Clarke has handled insurance “bad faith” and coverage disputes, construction defect (plaintiffs and defendants), business litigation, lender liability, intellectual property, product liability, and other complex litigation matters.

Mr. Clarke was previously a partner at Cappello & Noel, one of the nation’s foremost complex commercial litigation firms, in Santa Barbara, California. While at Cappello, Mr. Clarke’s longest trial lasted 11 months and resulted in a multi-million dollar judgment in a construction defect case.

He has also tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants involving catastrophic injuries, sexual harassment, wrongful death, wrongful termination, legal malpractice, accounting malpractice, real estate transactions, investments and intellectual property. This includes a jury verdict of more than $40 million against defendants represented by a major international law firm.

Finally, Mr. Clarke has extensive experience advising and counseling businesses, large and small, in the full range of legal issues businesses regularly face. In this regard, the emphasis is always risk management and cost effective solutions to difficult problems.

Mr. Clarke is admitted in the following Courts: 

• State of California, 1996

• U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 1996

• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 2005

• U.S. Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit, 2008

• State of Texas, 2009

• U.S. District Court, District of Idaho, 2008

• U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire, 2016

• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, 2016

• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, 2016

• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, 2010