Overview
Benton York is an associate in the Litigation Department of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. His practice focuses on complex commercial disputes and securities litigation. Benton has extensive experience in civil litigation, representing publicly-traded Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes mass tort and environmental tort litigation with a prior law firm, as well as six years representing the United States as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. Benton has appeared as lead attorney, filed briefs and presented successful arguments in numerous federal district courts, bankruptcy courts and circuit courts of appeals.
Benton served as a law clerk to the Honorable Rhesa H. Barksdale on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Jackson, Mississippi, and also to the Honorable John S. Bryant on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville. Prior to joining Paul Hastings, Benton served as a trial attorney with D.O.J. in the Tax Division and the Civil Division.
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2013
- University of Mississippi, B.A. (magna cum laude), 2008
Representations
- Served as lead counsel in trio of district court actions against a tax evading couple; obtained multi-million-dollar judgments and an emergency receiver appointment to successfully enforce federal tax liens
- Served as lead counsel in Mano v. Yellen; obtained denial of constitutional challenge to the Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) requirement
- Served as lead counsel in Lagerkvist v. United States; obtained summary judgment dismissing trust fund recovery penalty refund action
- Served as lead counsel in numerous district court and appellate proceedings on behalf of the government; filed and argued dispositive motions in district courts across the United States; filed brief and argued successful opposition to a class certification motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; filed appellate briefs in majority of the federal circuit courts of appeals and presented an oral argument in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit
- Appointed by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as pro bono counsel for an indigent prisoner in Delaughter v. Woodall; filed briefing and presented an oral argument before the Fifth Circuit; obtained a published decision vacating dismissal of the Eighth Amendment claims against state prison officials
Matters may have been completed before joining Paul Hastings.