Clifton S. Elgarten

Cliff's practice was diverse and included appeals, arbitrations, and trial court work. Over the course of his career, appellate advocacy was a primary practice area, covering the gamut of cases and appellate issues in the U.S. Supreme Court, many federal circuits, and in various state appellate courts, particularly in New York. He frequently advised as well on issues of constitutional law and appellate practice. He was listed as a Washington Super Lawyer for Appellate Litigation.

His trial work involved practice before arbitrators, judges, and juries, on topics ranging from breach of contract and fraud, terminations, non-competition agreements, competitive bidding, teaming agreements, insurance and, in the international arena, expropriations and treaty violations. He represented bankruptcy estates and, in 2008, concluded a representation of the Enron Creditors Recovery Corp., obtaining recoveries in excess of $1.6 billion from banks that were alleged to have contributed to Enron's collapse. In addition to domestic commercial arbitration cases, he brought to final hearing cases involving Israel, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Egypt, including several investor-state cases.

In the realm of insurance coverage, he litigated issues concerning late notice, allocation, the duty to defend, and bad faith, arising in cases involving products liability and environmental contamination. He successfully handled appeals on a range of insurance and reinsurance topics in both state and federal courts, arising from products liability, environmental contamination, and construction accidents.

Finally, Cliff was long deeply involved in the pursuit of claims on behalf of victims of international terrorism, both in federal court proceedings and before the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.