Shaun Clarke heads the White Collar Defense & Investigations practice at SKV. He has successfully tried cases in areas ranging from corporate taxation to civil rights, from personal injury to complex criminal frauds. Described by Chambers USA as a "master in handling government investigations on behalf of a nationwide clientele," he has earned accolades from The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Benchmark Litigation and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
Mr. Clarke earned a reputation for outstanding trial work in his position as Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco where he tried scores of cases during his three years there. His experience in handling complex corporate investigations was honed as an Assistant United States Attorney in New Orleans. There, he led a multi-agency task force investigation and series of prosecutions following the failure of Anglo-American Insurance Company. In 1996, Mr. Clarke established the environmental and white-collar defense practice at Liskow & Lewis. He then moved to Gerger & Clarke in 2008, and joined SKV in 2014.
Mr. Clarke has led defense teams in nearly every area of white collar defense and has represented clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to individual employees. He has successfully represented clients in SEC and other government investigations as well as at every level of both the civil and criminal court system. Mr. Clarke is lead trial counsel for the BP rig worker charged with manslaughter arising from the Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill and was successful in having the manslaughter charges dismissed by the District Court and the dismissal affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. A few other noteworthy cases include the landmark "constructive amendment" reversal in U.S. v. Hoover, reversal of a $17 million restitution award in U.S. v. D.L., dismissal of charges under the Commodities Exchange Act in U.S. v. Radley, and the successful representation of a former New York Yankee in the congressional investigation into performance enhancing drug use.
Mr. Clarke received his J.D. from Yale Law School where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and his undergraduate degree from Brown University. He clerked for Judge D. Lowell Jensen on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He is admitted to the Bars of Texas and Louisiana and regularly speaks before their members on issues related to white-collar and enviornmental crime and corporate investigations.
