Ben represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex, high-stakes civil litigation and appeals. A former lawyer for an AmLaw 50 firm, Ben has experience litigating contract, business tort, and class action disputes in federal and state courts across the country. As a business litigator, Ben has achieved significant recoveries for plaintiffs and obtained complete victories for defendants, both at trial and through motion practice.
Ben has also achieved meaningful victories for clients in constitutional and pro bono litigation, such as overturning the dismissal of a client’s federal civil rights claims in the United States Supreme Court, as well as helping to secure the release and exoneration of a Georgia man wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for murder.
Prior to joining Councill, Gunnemann & Chally, Ben clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for the Honorable Debra Ann Livingston and worked as a litigator at large international law firms in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Ben received a B.A. from The Ohio State University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review
Bar Admissions
Georgia
Virginia
District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia
Credentials
J.D., Harvard University, magna cum laude
Editor, Harvard Law Review
Finalist, Ames Moot Court Competition
B.A., The Ohio State University
Judicial Clerkships
The Honorable Debra Ann Livingston, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Representative Experience
Commercial Litigation
Successfully represented an affiliate of a large financial services company in bringing multi-million-dollar tort and contract claims in federal court arising out of an equipment sale and lease-back transaction involving solar generators.
Won declaratory judgment and recovery of attorneys’ fees for a commercial real estate private equity fund in an intra-LLC dispute in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Represented an AmLaw 100 law firm in defending legal malpractice claims.
Represented a large financial services company in litigation arising from its role as bond trustee.
Represented an international power engineering company both in arbitration and before the Delaware Court of Chancery in dispute arising from asset purchase agreement.
Represented a retrocessionaire in arbitration arising from dispute with reinsurer.
Class Action Litigation
Obtained summary judgment on all claims for a Fortune 100 retail company sued in an ERISA class action seeking over $100 million in damages.
Following a six-day bench trial, obtained a complete defense verdict for a Fortune 500 healthcare company sued in an ERISA class action seeking over $20 million in damages.
Represented an insurance technology company in putative class action asserting civil RICO claims, and successfully defeated motion for class certification.
Represented an energy utility in class action litigation arising from construction of a nuclear power facility.
Represented a computer software company in securities class action and shareholder derivative litigation arising from data breach incident.
Pro Bono Representation
On behalf of Section 1983 civil rights plaintiff whose father had died after being tased repeatedly while in police custody, obtained summary ruling from the United States Supreme Court overturning a Fifth Circuit decision that had dismissed case on grounds of qualified immunity.
Helped obtain the release and exoneration, following nearly twenty years’ imprisonment, of a Georgia man wrongfully convicted of a high-profile 1985 double homicide.