Alex Clavering
Associate
Alex Clavering is a criminal defense attorney with significant courtroom experience and a career-long commitment to standing up for the person with the least power in the room. He entered Columbia Law School with the design to use his law degree to battle injustice at the government’s hands—and he has built a practice defined by fearless advocacy and a steady, compassionate presence that helps clients feel seen and safe from day one.
In his prior work as a public defender, Alex represented clients in high-stakes criminal and parole proceedings, including cases involving parole violations, misdemeanors, drug possession, DWI/DUI, illegal weapon possession, assault, domestic violence, sex offenses, and violent felonies. He has extensive litigation experience, including pre-trial hearings and trials, and has particular strength in cross-examining police officers, complaining witnesses, and parole officers. Alex has secured dismissals and favorable outcomes after contested hearings and trials, helped clients avoid prison and other life-altering consequences, and brought dozens of successful habeas corpus petitions and other emergency applications challenging unlawful detention and seeking clients’ release. His public defense work required fast judgment, meticulous investigation, and the ability to litigate under intense pressure—often when a client’s freedom, employment, and future were immediately at stake.
Before law school, Alex worked at Google on their Domestic Criminal Investigations Team. In that role, he gained an intimate and sophisticated understanding of law enforcement investigations at the most complex levels. He worked directly with federal and state law enforcement agencies across the United States, supporting high-stakes investigative requests and navigating cutting edge issues at the intersection of technology and criminal procedure—experience that now strengthens his ability to understand, challenge, and explain complex evidence for judges and juries.
Alex graduated cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross before earning his law degree from Columbia Law School, where he earned recognition as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar in 2020 in acknowledgment of exceptional academic achievement. Alex also won a Fulbright Scholarship in 2014 in recognition of his academic excellence and professional promise.
While in law school, Alex was the lead organizer of the largest anti-gun violence demonstration in New York City history, which brought together more than 175,000 New Yorkers through a coordinated effort spanning dozens of grassroots organizations across the five boroughs. That work mirrors the way he practices law: earning trust quickly, thinking strategically, and delivering when stakes are the highest—because for his clients, everything is on the line.
Education:
- College of the Holy Cross, B.A. (cum laude)
- Columbia Law School, J.D. (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)
Admissions:
- State of New York
- S.D.N.Y.
- E.D.N.Y.
