Arata, Blake G.

Art concentrates his practice in professional liability and focuses primarily on the defense of claims made and suits brought against government entities, real estate professionals, architects, and engineers.  He has obtained favorable outcomes for his clients both at mediation and at every level of court in Delaware. 
 
Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey, Art served as Delaware corporate counsel for a multi-state real estate title company.  He has conducted hundreds of Delaware real estate settlements, and has been a director and officer of his neighborhood homeowners' association.
 
Art's managerial experience gives him a unique perspective into the defense of professionals, directors and officers.  For instance, while in business school, he served as director of Global Lawyers & Physicians, a health and human rights non-profit organization based in Boston, where he expanded the organization's membership, raised funds, and helped to lay the groundwork for creation of the Boston Refugee Center for Health and Human Rights.
 
In law school, Art served as research assistant for antitrust authority, Professor Joseph Brodley, aiding in the production and editing of law review articles and in the preparation of other scholarly works.  Art also served as writing tutor for Boston University School of Law's legal writing program.  Art's legal writing has won not only cases, but also scholarly awards, including one in Epstein, Becker & Green's Health Care and Life Sciences Law Writing Competition, for his paper, "Six,* Lies, and Drugs: Does Misinformation about Generic Drugs from Brand Name Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Constitute Predatory Conduct?"

Significant Representative Matters

• Successfully represented an out-of-state real estate settlement company before the Delaware Supreme Court in an appeal of its dismissal from a Superior Court action alleging consumer fraud and professional negligence.  Successfully argued against appellant's/class representative's establishing a private cause of action for the unauthorized practice of law.
  
  
• Currently represent county government in a First Amendment challenge to a legislative prayer practice before the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
  
  
• Represented non-profit legal services provider against former employee's claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, ending in a favorable outcome for our client.
  
  
• Successfully represented real estate broker by non-suiting plaintiffs, who alleged breach of a lease-to-buy contract, before the Delaware Superior Court.
  
  
• Successfully argued dismissal of a Fair Debt Collection Practices matter in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, brought against our client, an out-of-state law firm.
  
  
• Successfully argued, before the Delaware Superior Court, for summary judgment in favor of an architectural firm, sued by a plaintiff who allegedly fell on an entrance ramp to a public school.