Mark Ford > WilmerHale > Boston, United States > Lawyer Profile
WilmerHale Offices
60 STATE STREET
BOSTON, MA 02109
MASSACHUSETTS
United States
Mark Ford

Position
Partner
Career
Mark Ford is an experienced antitrust litigator who represents clients in state and federal courts and in agency investigations in matters concerning alleged monopolization, restraints of trade, price fixing, bid rigging, price discrimination, and other forms of anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct. His competition practice is nationally recognized: rated as a “Next Generation Lawyer” by The Legal 500 United States for his antitrust civil litigation practice; ranked as a “Band 1” lawyer in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for antitrust and competition law; and recently named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America for his antitrust litigation practice in Boston. Mr. Ford has successfully represented defendants in national class action litigation and plaintiffs in challenging predatory conduct by dominant industry players. In addition to this litigation practice, Mr. Ford is a lecturer at Boston University School of Law and a member of the Executive Committee of Greater Boston Legal Services
Mr. Ford is a leading antitrust litigator and counselor for clients in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry. He has litigated matters and regularly counsels clients concerning brand-generic settlements as well as defending allegations of sham litigation, Walker Process fraud, alleged “patent thickets,” improper “Orange Book” listings and “product hopping.” His clients are among the leading pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical firms in the world, and he has represented those companies and their employees in federal and state courts, before the Federal Trade Commission, and in matters brought by the European Commission. He regularly speaks and publishes on antitrust issues facing life sciences companies and teaches “Antitrust and Health Care” at Boston University School of Law, which focuses on pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical antitrust law and policy.
Mr. Ford also represents companies, including smaller and emerging businesses, hindered by anticompetitive or exclusionary conduct. On behalf of these firms, Mr. Ford has successfully pursued claims of monopolization and attempted monopolization, restraints of trade, price discrimination, unfair competition and tortious interference. Many of these cases involve clients targeted by abusive enforcement of intellectual property, including by bringing antitrust counterclaims on behalf of companies that are targeted by sham intellectual property litigation. In addition, Mr. Ford has extensive experience litigating antitrust matters arising from the assertion of standard-essential patents (SEPs). He has litigated several SEP antitrust claims in federal courts on behalf of clients alleging that SEP holders have violated commitments to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, representing some of the leading technology companies in the world. Mr. Ford has also appeared before the Department of Justice to address issues of SEP abuse.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
(Next Generation Partners)WilmerHale‘s antitrust practice comprises leading appellate advocates, criminal defense attorneys, and a broad bench of experienced civil litigators. Leveraging this expertise, the team is capable of opposing state and federal enforcement agencies, as well as private plaintiffs, in high-stakes class action litigation. Thomas Mueller spearheads the team, a key name for cartel enforcement matters. Jennifer Milici‘s considerable antitrust expertise is informed by her experience acting as chief trial counsel for the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. In New York, David Gringer has achieved high-profile victories under the Clayton and Sherman Acts. Boston-based Mark Ford is highly experienced in cases intersecting antitrust and intellectual property law, including sham litigation, ‘the walker process’, and ‘product hopping’. Dominic Vote and Perry Lange are also key members of the team, both bringing considerable experience representing clients before courts, the DOJ, and the FTC. Steven Cherry retired from the practice in December 2024. All lawyers operate primarily in Washington DC, unless otherwise mentioned.
Lawyer Rankings
- Civil litigation/class actions: defense United States > Antitrust
- Next Generation Partners United States > Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Industry focus > Education
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Industry focus > Native American law
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- International trade and national security > CFIUS
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Government > State attorneys general
- International trade and national security > Trade remedies and trade policy
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- International trade and national security > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Government > Government contracts
- Government > Government relations
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense