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Overview

Mark counsels food and agribusiness clients on antitrust and competition issues, helping them mitigate risk in an increasingly complex business and regulatory environment.

Mark brings more than three decades of experience to complex antitrust matters, with deep insight as to how the government analyzes acquisitions, joint ventures, exclusionary practices and trade association activities at both the state and federal level. Clients trust Mark’s decade of experience at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Antitrust Division, as a senior policymaker and litigator helping to guide State Attorneys General relations, agriculture enforcement and public advocacy, and his work leading enforcement efforts across all industries at the Texas Attorney General’s Antitrust Division. Drawing on knowledge gleaned from the year-long series of agricultural competition workshops he helped organize at DOJ, Mark has worked with agricultural producers and processors regarding regulation and rulemaking for cattle, poultry and dairy as well as chemicals, seeds and agricultural biotechnology. He also has significant antitrust experience in the healthcare, financial services and technology industries.

Mark's experience includes:

  • Leading an interdisciplinary team assisting a food systems processing client in developing a comprehensive regulatory risk assessment spanning antitrust, Packers and Stockyards, Robinson-Patman, and state farming and animal confinement law compliance risks;
  • Assisting a branded food product manufacturer in navigating state price gouging laws in two states that prevented price increases during the lengthy pendency of the Covid emergency;
  • Assisting two different consumer and animal food product manufacturers in assessing Robinson-Patman Act compliance issues arising out of recent company acquisitions;
  • Assisting several Texas wholesale and retail grocery clients in responding to state consumer protection investigative subpoenas concerning the “cost-plus” method of retail grocery pricing.

Clients and legal teams also value Mark’s many years of developing and shaping a broad network of productive relationships at all levels of industry and government, including regional and national agricultural cooperative and advocacy groups, agriculture industry executives, think tanks and academics, as well as a bipartisan array of state and federal legislators, enforcers and regulators, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the State Attorneys General.

As one of the foremost practitioners of agricultural antitrust law, Mark has written articles, spoken at conferences (including the AALA and ABA), and given webinars on new government efforts to regulate anticompetitive mergers and conduct and to stimulate new competition in agricultural processing markets.

Industry

Services

Recognition

  • Austin Monthly magazine, Top Austin Attorney, Antitrust, 2021-2024

Education

  • J.D., The George Washington University
  • M.B.A., The George Washington University
    • Finance
  • A.B., Northwestern University

Admissions

  • Texas

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Intergovernmental Rural Cooperatives Working Group, Department of Justice (DOJ) representative, 2015-2016
  • American Bar Association (ABA), State Enforcement Advisory Committee, 1998-2018
  • National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) Agricultural Working Group, DOJ liaison, 2009-2018
  • State Bar of Texas, Council Member, Antitrust and Business Litigation Section
Experience
  • Led multistate Attorneys General antitrust investigation in coordination with Department of Justice (DOJ) in United States v. Microsoft Corporation.
  • In addition to directing all Texas antitrust enforcement activities for more than 17 years, served as initial chief of ongoing Civil Medicaid Fraud Division, a Texas legislative initiative aimed at recovering fraud damages from health care providers through litigation.
  • Organized, led and publicly reported on all aspects of first nationwide series of public workshops examining competition in agricultural markets, with participation by local farmers, state and federal legislators and regulators (including Congressional representatives, state legislators, Governors, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Attorney General), academics, industry leaders and farm advocacy groups. Workshops were jointly sponsored and staffed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. DOJ.
  • Developed, led and implemented DOJ strategic plan to maximize state-federal cooperation in investigations and litigation. Helped coordinate and litigate merger and conduct matters involving states in agriculture, health care, health insurance, publishing, telecom and airlines.
  • Routinely handled investigation and litigation of numerous high-profile merger, price-fixing and wage-fixing cases in healthcare, technology, telecom, media, finance and transportation.
  • Led an interdisciplinary team assisting a food systems processing client in developing a comprehensive regulatory risk assessment spanning antitrust, Packers and Stockyards, Robinson-Patman, and state farming and animal confinement law compliance risks.
  • Assisted a branded food product manufacturer in navigating state price gouging laws in two states that prevented price increases during the lengthy pendency of the Covid emergency.
  • Assisted two different consumer and animal food product manufacturers in assessing Robinson-Patman Act compliance issues arising out of recent company acquisitions.
  • Assisted several Texas wholesale and retail grocery clients in responding to state consumer protection investigative subpoenas concerning the "cost-plus" method of retail grocery pricing.
Legal Updates | August 16, 2023
New Draft Merger Guidelines Complicate Deal Outlook
Legal Updates | March 18, 2020
Merger Reviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Legal Updates | January 31, 2020
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Filing Thresholds Increase in 2020

Noncompliance with the HSR Act may result in increased civil penalties as of the effective date of up to $43,280 per day.

Webinar | March 16, 2023
Competition Policy Under the Microscope
Outside the Office

Though he doesn’t play an instrument, Mark has a deep affinity for music and appreciates living near the nation’s premiere live music festivals such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest. He and his wife, parents of five almost-grown children, also enjoy kayaking on Lady Bird Lake and hiking with the baby of the family, their Golden Doodle, Ruby.

Community Leadership

Mark is active in his local synagogue.