NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clarick Gueron Reisbaum LLP, a premier commercial litigation boutique, announced today that Assistant United States Attorney Ellen Blain, who most recently served as both the Acting Deputy Chief of the Civil Division and Chief of the Civil Rights Unit for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, has joined the firm as a partner.
Blain, the first lateral partner hire in Clarick Gueron Reisbaum’s nearly 15-year history, served as lead counsel on hundreds of affirmative and defensive investigations and litigations, including on several of the highest-profile recent cases in the Southern District of New York, such as the first case brought by the United States over algorithmic discrimination by a social media platform.
“We are highly selective in choosing our colleagues, but adding a litigator of Ellen’s quality and character was an easy decision,” said Gregory Clarick, co-founding partner of the 17-lawyer firm. “Her experience leading lawsuits and investigations of the highest impact and complexity will make her an invaluable resource for our clients.”
Blain oversaw more than 500 matters and 50 lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She was responsible for complex government enforcement actions and defensive matters across a wide range of subjects—from conducting first-of-their-kind investigations to obtaining successful verdicts in False Claims Act and tax trials to arguing numerous cases before the Second Circuit. And as head of the Civil Rights Unit, Blain was also responsible for enforcing the federal civil rights laws throughout the Southern District of New York. She did so to groundbreaking effect, achieving a settlement with Meta (the owner of Facebook) that resulted in unprecedented changes to Facebook’s advertising delivery algorithm to correct for racial and gender bias. The long list of prominent litigations that Blain has led includes her defense of affirmative action policies at U.S. military academies, in which she defeated an application for preliminary relief in the District and Circuit Courts, and which the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed only months after it struck down affirmative action policies in civilian universities in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University.
Blain’s cases include two additional matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, one in which her successful argument to the Second Circuit on the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction was affirmed, as well as litigation involving national security and the No Fly List. She also represented the government in sophisticated False Claims Act matters involving pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, housing developers, and government agencies. And as Civil Rights Chief, Blain led investigations of public and private entities for gender, national origin, religious, disability, and racial discrimination; sexual harassment; employment, health care, and housing discrimination; and algorithmic bias.
“At the Southern District of New York, I had the privilege to work alongside extraordinarily talented litigators across a wide range of disciplines, and Clarick Gueron Reisbaum offers the opportunity to continue doing just that,” said Blain. “The firm has cultivated a rare law firm environment that maximizes the performance of its lawyers by elevating both legal excellence and overall happiness. The level of camaraderie and trust among the lawyers is obvious and reflected in their work. I am thrilled to join this preeminent team.”
Since its founding in 2010, Clarick Gueron Reisbaum has represented an extraordinarily broad range of clients, including leading financial institutions, entertainment companies, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, talent agencies, start-ups and their founders, real estate conglomerates, high-net-worth individuals, sports figures, renowned visual and recording artists, art collectors, and #MeToo silence-breakers. Clarick Gueron Reisbaum handles a wide variety of complex commercial litigation and disputes, including disputes concerning post-merger and acquisition obligations, complex loan payouts and financial instruments, corporate governance, securities, art fraud and art ownership, copyrights and trademarks, and employment. In addition, based on the senior government experience of its attorneys, New York State and New York City have hired Clarick Gueron Reisbaum to represent them in high-profile matters for the New York City Conflict of Interest Board, the New York State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation, and the Office of the State Comptroller.
“Ellen will be a tremendous asset not only in enhancing our capabilities, but in augmenting the next generation of leadership at Clarick Gueron Reisbaum,” said co-founding partner Nicole Gueron, who previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and as Deputy Chief Trial Counsel to then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
“Her experience running litigation, investigations, and monitorships for the federal government gives her unique insights, and her generalist mindset allows her to operate across the full range of matters that we handle,” added Emily Reisbaum, the firm’s third co-founding partner, also a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Blain received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California Berkeley School of Law. After law school, she clerked for Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
About Clarick Gueron Reisbaum LLP
Founded in 2010, Clarick Gueron Reisbaum LLP is a commercial litigation boutique representing clients in disputes involving complex commercial litigation and disputes, including disputes concerning post-merger and acquisition obligations, complex loan payouts and financial instruments, corporate governance, securities, art fraud and art ownership, copyrights and trademarks, and employment, as well as government litigation and investigations.
