Mark A. Bradford
Partner
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Phone: +1 312 499 0175
- Duane Morris LLP
190 South LaSalle Street, Suite 3700
Chicago, IL 60603-3433
USA
Mark A. Bradford has been representing reinsurers, insurers, and other affiliated risk transfer and financial services entities in complex, often multidimensional, litigation and regulatory actions for over twenty-years. He has successfully defended clients against multimillion dollar, eight and nine figure claims, including in a first chair trial capacity, where Mr. Bradford has diffused and disarmed more than a few nuclear threats. He also has recovered millions of dollars in awards and judgments for clients on contractual claims against recalcitrant or overreaching counterparties who have breached agreements or refused a good faith business resolution, including on more than one occasion obtaining awards of attorney’s fees, costs, and prejudgment interest. Mr. Bradford takes pride in helping his clients resolve their thorniest problems and creatively using the law to help achieve his client’s business goals. He is well versed in reinsurance, captive insurance and related legal and regulatory matters and has experience across multiple facets of the business of risk transfer. He will take a client’s difficult or large exposure case to trial or hearing but also looks for win-win solutions whenever possible. In addition to his active trial practice, Mr. Bradford advises clients on representation and warranties insurance and works hand in glove with acquisition and sales teams to advise on litigation, reinsurance, insurance, and regulatory aspects of transactions in addition to identifying risks in mergers and assets sales. He has significant experience litigating post-deal disputes and understands that in the world of contracts an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure.
Mr. Bradford serves as one of Duane Morris’s Trial Practice Group’s Assignment Partners and separately as one of the firm’s Loss Prevention Partners. As a Trial Practice Group Assignment Partner, Mr. Bradford marshals Duane Morris trial assets for the firm’s clients and coordinates assignments among various firm attorneys and offices. In his capacity as a loss prevention partner, Mr. Bradford counsels within Duane Morris on matters related to attorney and staff health and wellbeing and ethical and professional liability issues.
Mr. Bradford is a 2004 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, where he was Symposium Editor for the University of Illinois Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif, and a 2001 graduate of the University of Illinois.
Areas of Practice
- Reinsurance
- Insurance
- Financial Services
- Financial and Insurance Regulation
- Commercial Litigation
- Professional Liability Litigation
- Class Action Litigation
- Arbitration
Representative Matters
First chaired federal jury trial, obtained zero liability verdict and successfully petitioned for a post-trial award of fees on behalf of owner of privately held business.
- First chaired federal jury trial where plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for a nine figure verdict and obtained favorable verdict which was substantially less than final pre-trial demand on behalf of subsidiary of multinational insurer.
First chaired federal evidentiary hearing and obtained sanctions on behalf of client against lawyer who filed frivolous racketeering complaint.
Member of victorious trial team that obtained zero liability award against multi-million claim pursued by liquidator of insolvent entity.
- Obtained summary judgment and multimillion dollar judgment against asset seller who breached sale agreement.
Represented reinsurer in defense and resolution of class actions regarding sales practices pertaining to insolvent counterparty.
Represented reinsurer in proceedings initiated by Office of the Special Deputy Receiver on behalf of insolvent cedant.
Represented and obtained recovery for a counterparty in lawsuit against a receiver of an insolvent entity and an independent valuation appraiser.
Defended directors, executives, and counterparties in lawsuits brought by receivers of companies in liquidation.
Pursued and resolved expulsion claim on behalf of minority interest holder in limited liability company against majority interest holders.
Represented assuming and ceding companies in arbitration proceedings and handled post-arbitration confirmation and vacatur proceedings.
Advised on insurance and regulatory aspects, as member of Duane Morris team, that represented seller of healthcare company.
Represented a reinsurance company in disputed claims with state regulators in their capacity as receiver for multiple insolvent insurance companies.
Represented state and nationally chartered banks in shared-loss disputes adverse to receivers for multiple insolvent financial institutions.
Advised on regulatory aspects pertaining to rebranding, marketing and co-branding with subsidiary companies.
Delivered advisory memorandum on issues related to lender credit during regulatory examination under the Community Reinvestment Act.
Delivered advisory memorandum on anti-money laundering, FATCA and other compliance issues on behalf of foreign bank seeking correspondent relationship.
Advised on issues related to retail installment financing.
Advised on corporate structure and issues related to potential alter-ego liability.
Developed E-Sign Act disclosures and advised on related management procedures.
Advised clients on issues related to maintenance and utilization of personally identifiable information under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Regulation P.
Prepared marketing disclosures for insurance brokers and registered investment advisors.
Litigation
Regulatory and Transactional
Admissions
- Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Education
- University of Illinois College of Law, J.D., summa cum laude, 2004
- Symposium Editor, University of Illinois Law Review
- Order of the Coif - University of Illinois, B.S., 2001
Honors and Awards
Listed in Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2016–2019
- Selected as an Emerging Lawyer, Emerging Lawyers, 2015
Professional Activities
The Chicago Lincoln American Inn of Court
The Lawyers Club of Chicago
- Immediate-Past President, 2015-2016
- President, 2014-2015
- Secretary-Treasurer, 2013-2014
- Board of Directors, 2012-2017
Civic and Charitable Activities
- Chicago Legal Prep Mentorship Program
- Team Coordinator, 2012-2014 - University of Illinois Law Alumni Association
- President, 2007-2012
Selected Publications
- Quoted, "Courting Captives: Domiciles Seek To Win New Business," Best's Review, August 2024
- Co-author, “The Perfect Storm: COVID-19 Meets Social Inflation,” Journal of Reinsurance, Vol. 27, No. 2, July 2020
- Co-author, "Subrogation and Related Implications Following Natural Catastrophes," ARIAS Quarterly Journal, September 2019
Co-author, "6 Upcoming Supreme Court Cases That Will Affect Insurance," Law360, July 19, 2018
Co-author, "Functus Officio: Because All Things Must Come to Pass, the Real Question Is, on What Terms?" ARIAS Quarterly Journal, March 2018
Co-author, "Subrogation and Related Implications Following Natural Catastrophes," ARIAS Quarterly Journal, September 2019
- Co-author, "Changing Seasons of FDIC Shared-Loss Programs," Duane Morris Alert, September 22, 2016
Selected Speaking Engagements
Presenter, "Climate Change Litigation and the Evolution of Corporate Governance Policies," Presentation to Renaissance Re Executive Management Team, September 26, 2019
“Regulatory Activism and its Impact on the Insurance Industry,” CLE Presentation to Swiss Re, Armonk, New York, April 18, 2018
- Speaker, "The UDAAP Trap: Managing Compliance for the Financial Industry LIVE Webcast," The Knowledge Group, November 15, 2016