Mark S. Willis
- Mark S. Willis
- Washington, DC
- Partner
- phone (202) 756-3600
- fax (202) 756-3602
- email Email Me
Mark Willis heads the firm’s securities and international business development group and focuses his domestic and international litigation practice on investor protection and corporate governance matters. He was recently selected by Lawdragon Magazine for its “New Star” listing of top attorneys in the U.S.
Mr. Willis has litigated securities fraud actions for over eighteen years, working with a number of European and American institutional investors on various investor protection and corporate governance matters. He acted as co-lead counsel, representing Italian, French and Belgian institutional clients, in the In re Parmalat Securities Litigation, involving the largest fraud in European corporate history. Thus far, settlements valued at $90 million have been reached, as well as “first of its kind” governance reforms. He acts as co-lead counsel in the In re Converium Holding AG Securities Litigation, where a $145 million trans-Atlantic settlement on behalf of a global class of investors has recently been reached. He also acts as co-lead counsel in the In re Chicago Bridge Securities Litigation, where he represented a large institutional investor and where a settlement was recently reached involving a $10.5 million recovery for investors that included innovative governance reforms regarding insider trading. Mr. Willis also represents a large Belgian institution in the pan-European settlement of the In re Royal Dutch Shell Securities Litigation pending before the Court of Appeals in Amsterdam, where European investors will share in the distribution of $450 million.
In other matters, Mr. Willis litigated against Caremark International involving charges that Caremark committed federal Medicare fraud. It subsequently pled guilty and paid the U.S. Government a fine of approximately $160 million and $25 million in a civil settlement. He also litigated against National Health Labs, which resulted in a $65 million settlement, and settled claims against Nextel Communications and Motorola.
Mr. Willis has written extensively on corporate, securities and investor protection issues, often with an international focus. Among other publications, he has authored chapters in industry journals entitled “Company Laws of the European Union” and “Admission of Securities to Official Listing on Stock Exchanges Within the European Union and the Subsequent Disclosure Obligations.” He published a related article in the International Law News titled “A Brief Overview of the European Union’s Efforts to Harmonize the Requirements for Listing Securities.” Mr. Willis wrote about investor protection issues in an article published in the July/August 2003 edition of Professional Investor and co-authored articles published in 2005 in Professional Investor and the European Lawyer regarding European investor protection issues. He also co-authored two articles published in 2006 in Investment & Pensions Europe. Mr. Willis also participated in a roundtable discussion regarding class actions for the October 2006 edition of Global Pensions. He was also the co-author of the Comment entitled Corporation Code Sections 309 and 1203: California Redefines Directors’ Duties Towards Shareholders, Pepperdine Law Review, Volume 16, No. 4 (1989).
Mr. Willis has been a frequent speaker at institutional investor conferences on the issues of investor protection through the U.S. federal securities laws and the importance of using corporate governance measures to force companies to put the interests of their shareholders first. In addition to numerous forums in the United States, Mr. Willis has addressed these topics at institutional investor conferences and other forums in London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan, Lisbon, and Melbourne.
Mr. Willis obtained a Masters in International Law, with an emphasis in securities regulation, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1993. He graduated from Pepperdine University School of Law in 1989 where he was a member of the Moot Court Team and won the Dalsimer Moot Court Competition. Mr. Willis received his B.A. in English History from Brigham Young University in 1986.
Mr. Willis is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- Areas of Practice:
- Shareholder Litigation
- International
- Bar Admissions:
- Massachusetts, 1990
- District of Columbia, 1993
- Education:
- Georgetown University Law Center, 1993
LL.M. - Pepperdine University School of Law, 1989
J.D. - Brigham Young University, 1986
B.A.
Major: English History
- Representative Cases:
- In re Parmalat Securities Litigation
- In re Converium Holding AG Securities Litigation
- In re Chicago Bridge Securities Litigation
- In re Royal Dutch Shell Securities Litigation
- In re Caremark International
- In re Nextel Communications
- In re National Health Labs
- Classes/Seminars Taught:
- Lectured extensively in the U.S., throughout Europe, and in Australia on various investor protection and corporate governance issues
- Professional Associations and Memberships:
- American Bar Association
Member