About
Clare Locke is a boutique law firm with global reach. Dedicated to litigating complex defamation and privacy matters and representing clients facing high-profile reputational attacks, our clients are Fortune 100 companies, hedge funds, private equity firms, professional sports teams, CEOs, tech founders, journalists, and other prominent individuals who, by virtue of their success, public profile, and nationally recognized brands, are unfairly targeted by the media and business competitors. Our work includes prepublication engagement with the media and other publishers, post-publication correction and retraction demands, and, where necessary, litigation to correct the public record.
- Prepublication Counseling: When it comes to reputational attacks, some of our biggest victories are the flawed stories that never get published and the scandals you never read about in the news. Our unique approach causes publishers to exercise meaningful editorial and legal judgment before going to print.
- Post-publication Retractions: When the media rushes to print, we work to correct the record and obtain corrections, retractions, and apologies for damaging falsehoods — and we discourage other outlets from republishing the false narrative.
- Defamation Litigation: Understanding the obstacles that the First Amendment poses for defamation plaintiffs — and avoiding the pitfalls in these unique actions — is what separates us from other firms. We are the only plaintiff-side firm to have won multiple public-figure defamation jury verdicts in the past five years.
In an innovative new arrangement, Clare Locke has joined forces with two of the world's leading reputation law firms to create a new coalition of high-stakes problem solvers. Clare Locke is now part of a strategic alliance with Schillings in the United Kingdom and Giles George in Australia. Together, our global reach offers clients an unrivaled set of capabilities and service coverage, with a global team of best-in-class operators in key international hubs.
Clare Locke has a deep bench of talent, including multiple Chambers-ranked practitioners, former journalists, highly trained trial and appellate lawyers, and a network of crisis and strategic communications professionals to handle the most sensitive and complex matters impacting our clients' reputations.
- Tom Clare-With decades of experience as lead counsel on high-stakes defamation and litigation matters, Tom Clare is the trusted go-to counsel for companies and high-profile individuals facing hostile and misleading media coverage.Chambers' ranked for over 10 years, Tom regularly advises clients and secures record-setting wins for his clients, including architecting the $787.5 million settlement for Dominion Voting Systems against Fox and a $52.1 million FINRA defamation verdict. His clients include the President and First Lady of France, Mr. and Mrs. Macron, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk.
- Libby Locke- Libby is one of the country’s most sought after libel lawyers, litigating and winning myriad significant defamation cases in state and federal court—resulting in the Hollywood Reporter recognizing her as one of the top 25 “Power Lawyers the industry trusts to plan for (and respond to) the worst.” She has been Chambers' ranked for over 9 years. Her clients include the President and First Lady of France, Margot Robbie, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Bill Ackman, CoStar Group, SHVO, and numerous members of the federal government at the highest levels including in the federal judiciary, U.S. Congress, and in the executive branch.
- Mitch Langberg-Mitch Langberg is a Chambers-ranked, nationally recognized defamation and reputation management litigator. For more than three decades, he has protected clients whose success and visibility make them targets of false and damaging narratives—from the tabloid headlines of the 1990s to the digital age, where traditional media has adopted the tabloid’s tactics and social media amplifies their reach. Mitch combines the courtroom instincts of a seasoned trial lawyer with the strategic judgment of a crisis manager, helping individuals and companies safeguard what he views as their most valuable asset: their reputations.
- Joe Oliveri-Joe is a seasoned and accomplished litigator—and feared advocate—whose practice focuses primarily on complex litigation and defamation at the trial and appellate levels and advising clients facing high-profile reputational attacks. He has represented clients, including numerous Fortune 500 companies, in a wide variety of matters involving defamation, class actions, constitutional law, antitrust law, environmental law and toxic torts, bankruptcy, securities law, fraud, contract disputes, and trade secrets.
- Jered Ede-Jered is an experienced litigator relied upon by his clients to deliver practical and exacting legal advice guided by sound business judgment. He has spent his career representing clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to controversial high-profile figures in sensitive and sometimes existential crises requiring extraordinary discretion. Before joining Clare Locke, Jered was the chief legal officer of a media non-profit, where he managed a team of lawyers working on reputational risk, obtaining over five dozen corrections and retractions and avoided countless more inaccurate articles.
- Nick Brechbill-Nick's practice is devoted to combatting unfair reputational attacks through pre-publication advocacy, efforts to secure retractions and corrections, and if necessary, defamation litigation.His clients include CEOs, high net worth individuals, and Fortune 500 companies, who rely on Nick to guide them through internal and government investigations. Before joining Clare Locke, Nick served as a senior intelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Counterterrorism Center, where he authored key assessments for the President’s Daily Brief.Before that, Nick served as an intelligence analyst at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan supporting the FBI’s counterterrorism mission during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Ranked Offices
Provided by Clare Locke LLP
- Alexandria10 Prince Street , Alexandria, Virginia, USA, 22314
- Web: clarelocke.com
- Tel: (202) 628-7400
Clare Locke LLP rankings



