Mark T. Stancil
Partner, Litigation
Mark T. Stancil is a partner in the Litigation Department and Co-Chair of the Strategic Motions & Appeals Practice Group. He is also Co-Chair of the Bankruptcy Litigation practice. He focuses on trial and appellate advocacy in complex commercial litigation, with a particular focus on investment disputes.
A substantial portion of his practice is devoted to representing hedge funds; multi-strategy asset managers; and various trustees, agents, and ad hoc groups with significant financial interests in the outcome of litigation.
Mark's cases often involve novel questions of law and complex financial transactions, and frequently implicate bankruptcy disputes or legal rights and priorities arising under bond indentures or similar instruments. He has served as lead litigator at every level of the federal judiciary, arguing significant and case-dispositive motions in multiple district courts, and briefing and arguing numerous appeals before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits. He has also argued five cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, briefed many more, and filed scores of briefs at the certiorari stage.
In addition to investment disputes, Mark has litigated a wide variety of issues including the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, constitutional claims, the Hatch-Waxman Act, partnership tax controversies, intellectual property litigation (copyright, trademark, and trade secrets), Section 1983 litigation and qualified immunity, federal securities disputes, accounting fraud and accounting regulatory matters, SEC disclosure issues, and the Alien Tort Statute.
Mark was named a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation (2023).
Experience
Prior to joining Willkie in 2020, Mark was a partner at Washington-based litigation boutique Robbins Russell. Before entering private practice, Mark served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court of the United States and to the Honorable David M. Ebel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Mark is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, where he helped found the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. He is a Past Member of the National Board of Academic Advisors for the William H. Rehnquist Center on the Constitutional Structures of Government, and serves as a Moot Court Panelist for the Georgetown Supreme Court Institute and the National Association of Attorneys General.
Mark previously served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught a seminar in constitutional theory.
- Representing ad hoc group of General Obligation bondholders of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in litigation arising from the Commonwealth’s default and restructuring.
- Representing major investment funds in dispute arising from challenged Section 363 sale in Chapter 11 proceeding and associated violations of credit documents.
- Represented Administrative Agent for $4.2 billion term loan against PetSmart, Inc. and related entities in connection with disputed transactions that sought to impair collateral and other rights of term-loan holders.
- Represented major investment funds in dispute with Republic of Argentina over defaulted sovereign debt, including multiple appeals to the Second Circuit, proceedings before the Supreme Court, and remand proceedings before the district court.
- Successfully argued copyright preemption dispute for a major technology company before the Fourth Circuit.
- Represented Indenture Trustee on behalf of bondholders in dispute with Chesapeake Energy Corporation over high-yield bonds. Obtained Second Circuit reversal of adverse district court decision; obtained make-whole payment on remand to the district court and successfully defended remedy on further appeal.
- Advised major investment fund on constitutional and administrative-law issues related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship.
- Represented generic drug manufacturers in seeking Supreme Court review of decisions under Hatch-Waxman Act, and in challenging personal jurisdiction arising from ANDA filings.
- Represented major investment fund and Indenture Trustee in disputes arising out of Tribune Media bankruptcy dispute.
- Represented consortium of distressed-debt investors in appeal of confirmation of Chapter 11 reorganization plan and appeal of 507(b) superpriority administrative expense claim.
- Advised major bank on constitutional and related issues arising from the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act passed in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis.
- Successfully argued contract and regulatory dispute on behalf of major bank before the Third Circuit.
- Represented investor in multiple appeals of nine-figure federal partnership tax disputes.
- Argued Armour v. City of Indianapolis in the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of a group of taxpayers challenging the constitutionality of a discriminatory municipal taxation scheme.
- Argued Bloate v. United States in the Supreme Court of the United States, concerning the automatic exclusion of pretrial motion preparation time under the Speedy Trial Act.
* Mark advised on these matters prior to joining Willkie.
Credentials
Education
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1999 University of Virginia, M.A., 1999 University of Virginia, B.A., 1996