Nadira Clarke

Practice Areas

Nadira Clarke is a preeminent nationally recognized lawyer who specializes in crisis management. A formidable litigator who represents corporations and executives in high-profile litigation including major accidents and large-scale environmental incidents, she has years of experience at the Department of Justice, including the United States Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Maryland and Eastern District of Virginia, as well as the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. Nadira is engaged in some of the most challenging matters and she achieves extraordinary results. She kills her opponents with kindness. A fierce advocate with a warm and engaging personality, she draws upon her knowledge of the government decision-making process, transforms her opponents into friends, and provides calm, decisive counsel in a crisis.

Career

CNadira Clarke is known for her tenacious defense of corporations and executives facing large-scale, multi-faceted governmental investigations. A first-chair trial lawyer who is engaged in high-stakes matters, she focuses her practice on technically complex regulatory enforcement matters. She draws upon her knowledge of the government decision-making process and provides calm, decisive counsel in a crisis.

Nadira previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Well-versed in the area of corporate compliance and business ethics, she worked with two separate corporate monitor teams appointed by the court to oversee compliance of companies in the wake of criminal prosecution. She previously served as counsel to the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility, where she led internal professional ethics investigations involving federal prosecutors and high-ranking DOJ officials.

Early in her career, Nadira served in the highly selective U.S. Attorney General's Honor Program for the DOJ, and worked as a trial attorney with the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), including the Environmental Crimes Section and the Natural Resource Section. She was also selected to serve as a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the DOJ.

Professional Memberships

Member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers, Fellow

Environmental Law Institute, Board Member

Center for Women in Law, Executive Committee Member

Legal Aid Society of Washington D.C., Executive Committee Member

Admitted to practice in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. Admitted to the following courts: United States Courts of Appeals for the Second and Fourth Circuits, United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Publications

October 2022 Westlaw Today “The Department of Justice Really, Really Wants You to Voluntarily Disclose Your Company’s Violations. Considerations for GCs and CCOs”

October 2021, Environmental Law Reporter “The Future of Environmental Criminal Enforcement”

August 2021, Reuters “Surge in Environmental Justice Enforcement Prompts Intensified Corporate Attention to Community Issues”

December 2020, ELI Insider, Volume 8, Issue 4, Fall 2020 “Merging Environmental Safety and Incident Response Teams: Meet Nadira Clarke, Lily, Chinn, and Scott Janoe.

Personal

J.D., University of California, Berkeley 1992; B.A., Tufts University 1988

Her pro bono work includes mentoring and litigating sex-discrimination and political asylum cases.