Mark E. Christensen
Partner
Mark devotes his practice to helping Fortune 500 and privately held businesses with their litigation needs and legal problems. He has over 30 years experience as a trial attorney in state and federal courts.
Mark has a breadth of experience in products, construction, professional malpractice and directors and officers liability defense, having represented boat manufacturers, crane and hoist companies, construction contractors, brokers and financial and non-profit institutions in litigation, nationwide.
Mark’s legal scholarship and his understanding of his client’s business, combined with tenacious advocacy makes him a strategic litigator with the ability to turn cases to victory or an advantageous resolution. Mark’s versatility includes his defense of banks and commercial lenders in lender liability and other alleged malfeasance claims. He has also prosecuted foreclosure actions and suits to enforce guaranties and recover assets. He routinely advises businesses on their UCC and mechanics lien options.
Mark is coverage and reinsurance trial counsel for commercial, excess, and specialty risk insurers. He has represented their interests in losses exceeding USD 100 million, initiating litigation to void policies and defending bad faith claims. He has also coordinated responses to insurer insolvency issues on national accounts.
Mark has a breadth of experience in products, construction, professional malpractice and directors and officers liability defense, having represented boat manufacturers, crane and hoist companies, construction contractors, brokers and financial and non-profit institutions in litigation, nationwide.
Mark’s legal scholarship and his understanding of his client’s business, combined with tenacious advocacy makes him a strategic litigator with the ability to turn cases to victory or an advantageous resolution. Mark’s versatility includes his defense of banks and commercial lenders in lender liability and other alleged malfeasance claims. He has also prosecuted foreclosure actions and suits to enforce guaranties and recover assets. He routinely advises businesses on their UCC and mechanics lien options.
Mark is coverage and reinsurance trial counsel for commercial, excess, and specialty risk insurers. He has represented their interests in losses exceeding USD 100 million, initiating litigation to void policies and defending bad faith claims. He has also coordinated responses to insurer insolvency issues on national accounts.
Mark has been a featured speaker at the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) Construction Risk Conference. He also speaks at Lloyd’s of London-sponsored seminars in England and at various other industry conferences in the U.S. He developed the “American Litigation Process” training materials for various Lloyd’s underwriting agencies and is the author of Mediation Handbook, a negotiating paradigm used to resolve high value, complex litigation.
Mark is rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell. He was selected for inclusion in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Illinois Super Lawyers® and 2012 and 2013 California Super Lawyers® for San Francisco and Southern California. He was recognized by his peers and awarded the Trial Lawyer award in Cook County, Illinois for a recovery action for property damage and business interruption arising from a refinery explosion. He was awarded the Trial Lawyer of the Year award for 2012 and 2013 by Old Republic Construction Program Group. Mark is the past secretary, treasurer and president of the Chicago Division of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel. He also has served on the City of Chicago Board of Ethics, which reviews ethics violations and inquiries involving municipal employees.
Mark is rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell. He was selected for inclusion in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 Illinois Super Lawyers® and 2012 and 2013 California Super Lawyers® for San Francisco and Southern California. He was recognized by his peers and awarded the Trial Lawyer award in Cook County, Illinois for a recovery action for property damage and business interruption arising from a refinery explosion. He was awarded the Trial Lawyer of the Year award for 2012 and 2013 by Old Republic Construction Program Group. Mark is the past secretary, treasurer and president of the Chicago Division of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel. He also has served on the City of Chicago Board of Ethics, which reviews ethics violations and inquiries involving municipal employees.
Education
- Wheaton College, B.A., with high honors, 1977
- Northwestern University, J.D., cum laude, 1982
Bar Admissions
- Illinois, 1982
- California, 2003
- New York, 2009
- Texas, 2011
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth and Seventh Circuits
- U.S. District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin, and North Dakota
- U.S. Court of Federal Claims
