Mark A Behrens

Mark Behrens co-chairs the Washington, D.C.-based Public Policy Group of Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P., an international law firm that primarily represents corporate defendants in complex civil litigation.  For over two decades, Mark has been extensively involved in liability law, defense litigation, civil justice reform, and counseling in the prevention of liability exposure.  He is a member of The American Law Institute (ALI) and was recently invited to serve as an Adviser to the ALI’s Restatement Third, Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons project.  Mark is a Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent Rated attorney.  He has served on the adjunct faculty of The American University’s Washington College of Law.  In the fall of 2010, Mark taught Advanced Torts as a Distinguished Visiting Practitioner in Residence at Pepperdine University School of Law in California.

Mark has been listed as one of Washington, D.C.’s “top lawyers” by Washingtonian magazine and as a leading product liability defense attorney by Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.  He has authored or coauthored over 140 amicus briefs on behalf of national and state business and civil justice organizations in cases before the United States Supreme Court, seven different federal appellate courts, thirty different state courts of last resort, and seven different state appellate courts.  He has also testified before the U.S. Congress and numerous state legislatures.  He has served as an expert witness in trials.

Mark has published over fifty scholarly articles in leading national journals and law reviews, including the Harvard Journal on Legislation, Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, and Texas Review of Law & Politics.  He is a recipient of a Burton Award for Legal Achievement and received an award from several national organizations for major research contributing to civil justice issues.  He has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the National Law Journal, and has appeared on radio and television, including CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN.

Mark is counsel to the Coalition for Litigation Justice; co-counsel to the American Tort Reform Association; Adviser to the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Civil Justice Task Force; and co-chair of the Tort and Product Liability Subcommittee of the Federalist Society’s Litigation Practice Group.  He is also a member of the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Policy Advisory Board, NFIB Small Business Legal Center’s Advisory Board, Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., Lawyers for Civil Justice, and the Lawyers Committee of the National Center for State Courts.

Mark received his J.D. in 1990 from VanderbiltUniversityLaw School, where he was a member of the Vanderbilt Law Review and received an American Jurisprudence Award for achievement in tort law.  He received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987.

6/19/13