About Cynthia Clarfield
Cynthia Clarfield Hess has spent more than three decades in law after completing her legal education in the late 1980s. She earned a J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1988, following a B.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1985. Those credentials laid the groundwork for a career that crosses coastlines and courtrooms.
After law school, Hess entered practice at a time when the legal landscape was shifting rapidly. Over the years she has obtained admission to practice in five states: Pennsylvania, Oregon, Connecticut, New York and California. That multistate admission profile has shaped the way she approaches client matters. It has required attention to differing state rules and an ability to coordinate work that spans jurisdictions.
Her professional record includes time at Fenwick & West LLP, a firm where she worked on matters that brought together transactional, regulatory and litigation considerations. At Fenwick she dealt with the kinds of legal questions that arise when clients operate in multiple states or industries. Colleagues describe her style as careful and methodical. She tends to favor clear legal analysis and steady case management over flash.
Hess’s training at two Ivy League institutions informed both her legal reasoning and her understanding of public policy. The Princeton degree followed by Cornell Law gave her a mix of public affairs and legal training, and that combination appears in how she frames client problems. She often looks for practical paths that resolve legal issues while accounting for business and policy implications.
Throughout her career she has navigated matters that require coordination among different jurisdictions. That operational skill matters when statutes, regulations and court rules do not align. It also matters when a client's work or disputes cross state lines. Hess has handled such coordination repeatedly, relying on procedural discipline and attention to detail rather than broad public pronouncements.
She maintains an active practice and continues to be admitted in multiple state bars. Her work remains centered on advising and representing clients whose legal needs extend beyond a single state. She currently focuses her practice on advising clients across multiple jurisdictions.
