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AREAS OF PRACTICE
Commercial Litigation
Appellate Litigation
Antitrust
Antitrust Investigations
Investigations and White
Collar Defense
Congressional
Investigations
Corporate Governance and
Investigations
Litigation
Foreign Corrupt Practices
Act and Anti-Corruption
Securities Enforcement and
Compliance
GOVERNMENT
EXPERIENCE
Attorney General of the
United States, United States
Department of Justice,
Office of the Attorney
General
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Maryland
EDUCATION
L.L.B. (J.D.), University of
Maryland School of Law,
1961
A.B., Johns Hopkins
University, 1957
Benjamin R. Civiletti
Chairman Emeritus and Retired Partner
Chairman Emeritus and retired partner Ben Civiletti focused his practice of law on commercial litigation, banking,
white-collar crime, government regulation, and corporate governance. He conducted numerous product liability
cases; successfully prosecuted and defended statutory and constitutional claims, and conducted special
investigations growing out of derivative suits, governmental proceedings, and a state impeachment
resolution. Ben is both a trial and appellate advocate. In addition, he developed a practice in alternative dispute
resolution, working successfully as a mediator, facilitator, master and arbitrator in many commercial and tort
disputes to achieve faster and more cost-efficient justice.
Ben’s prior service on four public for-profit boards and three non-profit boards afforded him a thorough familiarity
with corporate governance consensus, task forces, and strategic planning. As Attorney General of the United
States, Ben argued before the International Court of Justice on behalf of the American captives in Iran, and before
the Supreme Court for the right of the government to denaturalize Nazi war criminals, and successfully defended
the President’s wage and price guidelines in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (sitting en
banc). Furthermore, Ben was responsible for the Justice Department’s promulgation of open trial guidelines, the
Stanford Daily laws, the development and publication of National Priorities for the Investigation and Prosecution of
White-Collar Crime, Principles of Federal Prosecution, National Prison Standards, and a score of other
improvements in the effective enforcement of criminal law and in civil rights and environmental protection.
SIGNIFICANT MATTERS
Ben successfully argued again in the Court of Appeals of Maryland to reverse excessive millions in punitive
damages and the court entered judgment for the defendant. He was co-independent counsel, appointed by
regulators, in the investigation of the derivative business of a major Wall Street financial institution. Ben
represented a corporate client in the successful defense of multi-million dollar claims of tortious interference with
contract. For another client, he successfully settled multiple intentional tort claims after a lengthy trial on motions
to suppress. And he again was successful in settling claims from a domestic air crash in which he represented
plaintiffs against a major airline.
ACTIVITIES
Ben served as a member of the National Research Council Committee to Study National Cryptography Policy and
as Chair of the Maryland Governor’s Commission on Welfare Policy. He was a member of the Governor’s Task
Force on Alternatives to Incarceration. In community-related areas, Ben’s service includes former membership on
the Legal Aid Bureau, Inc.’s board and Chair of GBMC Healthcare, Inc. (retired). In the legal publications field,
he was a member of the Lexis-Nexis/Martindale-Hubbell Legal Advisory Board and a member of Matthew Bender
& Company, Inc., – board of editors of Federal Litigation Guide Reporter. Ben also served as chair or member on
a number of task forces under several Maryland governors. These include: Funding of Public Education; Drug
Abuse; and Funding of the Arts.
JUDICIAL CLERKSHIPS
Honorable W. Calvin
Chesnut, U.S. District Court
for the District of Maryland,
1961 – 1962
MEMBERSHIPS
American Bar Association
Federal Bar Association
Maryland State Bar
Association
District of Columbia Bar
Association
Bar Association of Baltimore
City