Kasowitz Opens DC Office

NEW YORK, June 12, 2013 - Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP is pleased to announce that Clarine Nardi Riddle has joined the firm and will launch its Washington, D.C. office and Government Affairs practice. She will focus on expanding the firm’s presence on Capitol Hill and advising clients on a range of regulatory and public policy issues. Riddle will also continue working with Senator Joseph Lieberman, for whom she most recently served as Senate Chief of Staff and who joined Kasowitz last week in New York as Senior Counsel.

Riddle was Connecticut’s 22nd Attorney General, and the only woman to date to serve in that role, from 1989 -1991. She was also the first female Attorney General to appear before the U.S. Supreme Court, successfully arguing in Martin W. Hoffman v. Connecticut Department of Income Maintenance, et.al. Her position as chief of staff to Senator Lieberman involved participating in and leading congressional staff delegations to Switzerland, China, Thailand, Jordan, France, China/Tibet, Algeria, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. She also organized Senate bipartisan chiefs of staff, including the chiefs' steering committee, foreign affairs study group, and Dialogue Group.

“Clarine’s extensive political and legal experience will be an invaluable asset to our clients who seek counsel in navigating a range of matters involving the intersection of business and government,” said Marc Kasowitz, the firm’s founding and managing partner. “We look forward to developing our government affairs practice under her guidance, and also underscoring the importance of strong women leaders at the firm.”

Riddle joins the firm as Counsel. Earlier positions include serving as Judge of the Connecticut Superior Court, Connecticut’s highest trial court of general jurisdiction, and Special Counsel to Senator Lieberman, as well as his Deputy and Counsel, when he was Attorney General of Connecticut.  Previously she was a Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Multi Housing Council, an association representing the interests of the nation's most prominent owners and operators of multifamily rental housing. She also served as Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of New Haven, Connecticut.

Riddle remains an active co-founder of No Labels, an organization of Republicans, Democrats and Independents dedicated to a new politics of problem-solving on Capitol Hill, and serves on the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Center for Constitutional Democracy Board of Directors, the Board of the Connecticut Policy Institute, and the Board of Advisors of The National Bureau of Asian Research. She is a graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington and Indiana University Law School, and holds an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Saint Joseph College.

“It is very exciting for me to join the excellent attorneys at Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, a firm with such an extremely strong reputation for fighting for their clients in many of the most complex litigation matters,” Riddle said. “I am eager to apply my knowledge and experience to help companies and individuals advocate for legislative and policy changes that protect and expand their businesses.”

About Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP

Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP is a national law firm, numbering more than 375 lawyers, primarily focusing on complex commercial litigation.  The firm has offices in New York, Washington, DC, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, and Newark.

Led by Clarine Nardi Riddle, Kasowitz’s Government Affairs Practice group will represent firms, individuals and trade associations requiring guidance on all issues at the intersection of law, business and public policy. Their insiders’ perspective and relationships with state officials and federal law makers will help clients advocate for legislative and policy changes that protect and expand their businesses throughout the world. They possess familiarity with the inner workings of many federal agencies, as well as unparalleled knowledge of the priorities and concerns of the Executive branch and decision-makers on both sides of the aisle on the Hill. The group will also advise clients on best practices for responding to government investigations and assist with managing compliance initiatives and litigating in state and federal courts in cases filed by the government, as well as parallel civil litigations.

For more information, visit www.kasowitz.com