Alan W Clark is one of New York's best examples of the tireless independent advocate for everyday people - a trial attorney who has also built one of the most successful small practices on Long Island. The 64-year-old Bronx native who grew up in Westchester - the first lawyer in his family - brings a true passion to his craft and an outlook borne of experience and hard work. Further, his views on individual rights and justice have sharpened over the years by his countless battles with bottom-line-oriented institutions, particularly insurance companies, large corporations and health care providers.

Clark says it was childhood stories and movies that spurred him to the law - "a highly respected profession" - and he found important mentors early on. One law school professor - and Clark's first boss - was Manhattan trial attorney Alfred S. Julien of Julien & Schlesinger: "A shining example of what a good lawyer should be." For Clark there really was no alternative to courtroom work: "That's what being a lawyer is all about." Indeed, Clark has pursued plaintiff's trial law as though he's had much to prove: He launched his own practice when he was barely 27, confident of his business instincts. (Indeed, his undergrad degree was in business administration.)

In the 80s he led a three-partner firm based in Mineola, which took on general personal-injury cases, and, increasingly, medical malpractice cases. In 1985, Clark won $2.5 million for the family of a severely handicapped adult who'd received the wrong medication at a state institution; the decision, among several multi-million dollar awards, held up to multiple appeals. Four years later Clark represented a woman who'd been groped by Mike Tyson in a Manhattan nightclub - Clark recognized that the famed boxer was "just an out-of-control guy" long before his later assaults led to prison time.

Thirty-five years ago Clark moved his practice from Mineola to Levittown where the firm prospered and continued to grow. In 2000, Clark became sole owner and managing partner of his firm. Today the law firm of Alan W. Clark & Associates, LLC is located in second-floor offices at 1065 Old Country Road, Westbury. His firm handles today scores of workers' compensation claims each year, as well as serious personal injury and medical-malpractice cases. Clark and his wife Madeleine (they met as freshmen at the University of Miami) live in Suffolk County; they have two children and one granddaughter. Their son Brandon practices

Workers' Compensation law, and their younger son Rory is a Vice-President of a real estate company and also a licensed attorney with experience in corporate and securities law. Clark is a lifelong musician (he plays the jazz saxophone and clarinet) and he's an avid Yankees fan. He loves to read about history and current events and enjoys a round of golf.