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Biography

Ms. Clifford is an experienced litigator who focuses her practice on general complex commercial litigation and education matters. As the mother of a child with special needs, Ms. Clifford understands the many challenges and struggles parents encounter when advocating for their children. Because of her own personal experiences, she has a passion and commitment to help others benefit from the knowledge she has gained as both an attorney and a parent and serves as a leader of the firm’s Child Advocacy Team. Ms. Clifford’s commercial litigation practice encompasses a broad range of litigation matters for public and private companies and individuals. Throughout her career, she has represented clients in trial and appellate work in the state and federal courts of New York and New Jersey and has handled a number of arbitrations and mediations. Ms. Clifford has effectively managed large teams of attorneys to efficiently and effectively defend the firm’s clients.

Other Info About Debra

Experience

Legal Work Highlights

  • Represented the Trustee of the DBSI Estate Litigation and Private Action Trusts. DBSI was a conglomerate of real estate entities with listed assets valued at over $2.65 billion at the time of its bankruptcy filing. The DBSI insiders were recently indicted on 84 counts of securities fraud and accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Ms. Clifford manages managed all aspects of trust administration and supervises supervised multiple actions pending in the United States District Court for the Districts of Delaware and Idaho. These lawsuits included civil RICO and fraud claims against the former directors and officers of DBSI and DBSI’s auditors. The Trustee has likewisealso commenced litigation against DBSI’s due diligence providers and the hundreds of broker-dealers and registered representatives who sold DBSI securities. Ms. Clifford plays played a role in all aspects of the DBSI litigation and is was otherwise responsible for the day-to-day management of the broker-dealer claims brought by the Trustee of the Private Actions Trust. In this regard, she has successfully mediated numerous claims. Ms. Clifford also has had primary responsibility for liaising with the Trust Oversight Committee on all aspects of the DBSI litigation.
  • Represented numerous clients in connection with insurance coverage disputes, including complex third-party and first first-party insurance coverage litigation. Ms. Clifford also has experience with international insurance arbitrations. In this regard, she participated in a three-week hearing in London involving a pharmaceutical coverage claim under the Bermuda policy form. Her experience includes locating and retaining high quality expert witnesses from a variety of disciplines, including insurance/risk management, and U.S. and ex-U.S. regulatory agencies, as well as preparing expert reports.
  • Represented U.S. and foreign air carriers in civil litigation, including claims involving wrongful death and personal injury, premises liability, passenger delay, baggage and cargo claims, subrogation matters, and contract disputes. Ms. Clifford successfully served on the appellate team in El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tseng, 525 U.S. 155 (1999), in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Warsaw Convention precluded an international air passenger from maintaining an action for personal injury damages under state law where the injuries were not caused by an “accident” within the meaning of Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention.
  • Represented telecommunications defendants in a multitude of state, federal, and bankruptcy court actions, including contract disputes, defense of various fraud claims, and post-bankruptcy litigation.
  • Represented a leading publishing company with respect to a dispute over the willful violation of the company’s intellectual property rights.
  • Represented numerous clients with respect to the docketing and collection of foreign judgments.
  • Defended a major accounting firm against claims of securities fraud and conspiracy to defraud the plaintiffs, and prevailed on motions to dismiss and in the subsequent appeal.

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

Tower Ins. Co. v. Dockside Associates Pier 30 L.P., Slip Copy 2011 WL 2669076 (E.D. Pa. July 7, 2011)

Parkinson v. Bono, 300 A.D.2d 640 (2d Dep’t 2002)

Tseng v. El Al Israel Airlines, 919 F. Supp. 155 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), aff’d in part, rev’d in part, 122 F.3d 99 (2d Cir. 1997), rev’d, 523 U.S. 1117 (1998)

Education

Fordham University School of Law|College of the Holy Cross

J.D.|B.A.

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  • Editor-in-Chief, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal

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Courts

Debra is admitted to practice before the following court(s):

State of New Jersey|State of New York|State of Idaho|United States District Court for the District of New Jersey|United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York|United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|United States District Court for the Northern District of New York|United States District Court for the District of Idaho

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Recognition

Local & National Recognition

Included on the Best Lawyers® list, Commercial Litigation

Included on the National Law Journal “Family/Elder Law Trailblazers” list, 2022

Included on the New Jersey Super Lawyers list, Business Litigation

Professional Affiliations

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

American Bar Association

 

New Jersey State Bar Association
Privacy Law Committee

 

Essex County Bar Association

 

New York State Bar Association

 

Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc.

 

New Jersey Special Education Practitioners (NJSEP)

Civic Activities

Civic & Charitable Organizations

March of Dimes, Ambassador Family