Meet the team – Jason Balsamo, Senior Counsel

Jason Balsamo is a Senior Counsel based in our New York office. Today, he is sharing his story.

“Hi everyone, I’m Jason Balsamo and I am a Senior Counsel in Clyde & Co’s New York office. I joined the firm as an Associate in 2019 in our Financial Institutions (FI) and Directors & Officers (D&O) group looking for challenging work and an opportunity to grow. The COVID-19 pandemic happened shortly after I joined our firm and led me to work on many interesting private and not-for-profit D&O matters. I was able to work with a team of brilliant attorneys and learned a lot in a short period of time. My colleagues were always available to talk through complicated issues and quickly made me feel like part of a real team. These colleagues—and our firm's resources and professional development programs—quickly allowed me to elevate my legal skills.

Today my practice includes handling coverage litigation and providing coverage advice on FI and D&O risks, as well as with respect to Employment Practices Liability (EPL) and transactional risks. In addition to handling complex coverage litigation, my practice includes providing pre-litigation coverage advice and counseling while also monitoring high-profile cases to help insurers resolve disputes at an early stage, before those risks become more significant, and helping our clients avoid potential bad faith exposure.

I became an attorney to solve problems, and my favorite part of my practice is investigating a new file and putting the pieces of a puzzle together. The moment when those pieces begin to fit together never gets old. This was particularly true on one coverage case I was involved in with a long history of related prior litigation. I was able to spend the better part of a month digging into court filings, motions, declarations, and claim files to get a clearer picture of the case and, in so doing, was able to identify numerous jurisdictional and substantive defenses by looking at the case with a different perspective. This work allowed us to obtain a favorable settlement for our client in just a few short months for less than a tenth of the plaintiff’s initial settlement demand.

Outside of work, you can often find me going to a NY Mets game at Citi Field. I share Mets season tickets with one of my colleagues at Clyde and I arrange our New York office’s annual Mets game for our Summer Associate Program. I’ve also attended a Mets game at London Stadium last year with one of our UK colleagues; my relationships with international colleagues are one of my favorite parts of working at Clyde. When I’m not at a Mets game, my wife and I spend a lot of time out on Long Island’s North Fork, where we love to do wine tastings and spend time with our Boston Terrier, Rex. (Although, to be fair, we sometimes take Rex to see a Mets game, too!)”