Ben Chew is a distinguished trial lawyer and litigator known for high-stakes commercial, defamation and reputational matters involving prominent individuals, corporations and governments. He has represented clients throughout the United States and internationally.
A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and with a band 1 nationwide rating for defamation/reputation management from Chambers High Net Worth, Ben combines deep courtroom experience and cross-border litigation expertise with strategic judgment honed through managing complex cases under intense public and media scrutiny.
Ben handles diverse commercial disputes, including defamation, corporate governance, breach of fiduciary duty, intellectual property, government contracts, breach of contract, class actions, derivative shareholder and other corporate governance actions, international disputes, Lanham Act, UCC, products liability, real estate, bankruptcy, employment (including noncompete), insurance law, white collar defense, fraud and RICO litigation.
In what has been called the “trial of the century,” Ben served as lead trial counsel with Camille Vasquez in an A-list Hollywood actor’s victory in his high-profile defamation case against his former wife. Previously, Ben successfully prosecuted two breach of fiduciary duty cases for this actor. He also successfully represented an iconic pop music singer and actress in several cases, including two relating to an Academy Award nominated documentary film. He has also represented a television chef and another prominent American actor.
Fluent in Spanish, Ben was part of the team representing a Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in the pending bankruptcy proceedings, and has litigated for Dominican, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Nicaraguan and Panamanian clients in the U.S.
Ben is also known for his representation of foreign prime ministers and sovereign governments, including Dubai (securing the dismissal of a multimillion-dollar arbitration award by Bechtel) and Honduras in U.S. litigation and for representing a U.S.-based multinational corporation against the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua in arbitration and at the Ninth Circuit.
Among Ben’s other international engagements are representing a defendant in Kosovo (after passing the Kosovo bar) in criminal proceedings brought by EULEX, representing a Georgian political leader before the European Court of Human Rights, resolving a defamation claim for the former prime minister of the Czech Republic and helping to secure the dismissal of a defamation action against the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Ben appears regularly as a legal commentator on CNN, the Law & Crime Network and CourtTV. He also serves as a trial advocacy instructor at Harvard Law School.
