Benjamin Richard Civiletti was born July 17, 1935, in Peekskill, New York. He received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from the University of Maryland in 1961.

Civiletti was U.S. attorney general in the Carter administration from 1979 to 1981. He has practiced for thirty years with Venable, Baetjer and Howard, and the firm added his name to their Washington office in 1981.