Mark Ryan Trachtenberg

My ability to craft a "big picture" legal strategy from the inception of litigation through the final appeal has led to my involvement in some of the most complex and high-stakes litigation in the state, including two successful challenges to the Texas school finance system, the disposition on summary judgment of a False Claims Act case in which the plaintiffs had sought $256 billion in damages against a major oil company, and the successful defense of an appeal of a $3.6 billion bankruptcy plan of reorganization in the Fifth Circuit. 

I am a partner in the firm’s Appellate section and am board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  I have been named a “Texas Super Lawyer” in appellate law by Texas Monthly magazine, and a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation. I am proud to have been selected as a member of the American Law Institute, and to serve by appointment on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association. 

I have helped my clients achieve a successful resolution of their cases in a wide range of appellate matters, including in the areas of bankruptcy, oil and gas, products liability, consumer class actions, arbitration-related appeals, and other business litigation. 

I head the Houston office of the firm as its Administrative Partner.  I am also extensively involved in bar work.  For the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section, I serve as the Chair of Appellate Subcommittee of the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee.  For the Houston Bar Association, I serve as an officer of the Appellate Practice Section.  In addition to my bar service, I write and speak on a wide variety of topics, with a recent focus on arbitration issues and oil and gas law.

Outside the office, I devote much of my volunteer time to the Anti-Defamation League (Southwest Region), where I serve as a Vice-Chair of the organization and as the chair of its Civil Rights Committee.