Clare
Riva

PRACTICE AREAS

• Municipal Law
• Public Finance

• Hear my name
• Pronouns:
  she, her, ella
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Clare Riva represents municipal clients in all stages of litigation and in public finance matters. An associate in Pacifica’s Public Law and Finance Practice Group, she supports clients in a range of tax-exempt and taxable debt financings, including general obligation bonds and revenue bonds, and advises municipalities regarding ongoing litigation matters in addition to her direct representation in appeals and trials.

Clare’s public finance practice is informed by her pre-law career as a consultant for financial services providers. She is also an experienced litigator and trial attorney. Prior to joining Pacifica, she served as a King County Public Defender, where she honed her trial practice representing clients and first-chairing ten trials as a Public Defender.

Before moving to Seattle, Clare worked in appellate law in the other Washington (D.C.) for the Constitutional Accountability Center, where she wrote several briefs filed in state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and represented clients such as the U.S. House of Representatives as amicus. After graduating from law school, Clare clerked for the Honorable Peter J. Messitte in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

In her free time, she enjoys cycling, reading, and cooking with her fiancé and their cat.

Bar Admissions:

• Washington (Class A Felony qualified)
• Maryland
• U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Education:

• Claremont McKenna College, B.A., Philosophy and Ethics, cum laude
• Stanford Law School, J.D. (Highest Pro Bono Distinction, Judge Thelton E. Henderson Prize for clinical work, Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties)

Community Involvement:

• Plymouth Housing Ambassador Board

Professional Organizations:

• National Association of Bond Lawyers