Mark Trachtenberg

Mark Trachtenberg represents major companies in high-stakes appeals and complex trial-court matters in Texas and federal courts. Board certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Mark helps clients challenge adverse judgments, preserve favorable results and address case-shaping legal issues in business litigation involving significant exposure, including construction disputes, products liability, oil and gas disputes, False Claims Act cases, bankruptcy, trade secrets, and many other types of cases.

Mark’s appellate accomplishments include reversals in the Texas Supreme Court of a $22 million tortious interference and trade secret misappropriation judgment, a $14 million products liability judgment, a $16.5 million judgment in a trade secret dispute, and a multi-million-dollar judgment arising from the termination of a gas transportation agreement, with reinstatement of the client’s counterclaim. After being retained to appeal the largest actual damages verdict for an injured worker in Texas history, he helped secure a historic $117 million remittitur from the trial court and a mediated settlement for a fraction of the original verdict after filing the opening appellate brief. He has also obtained mandamus relief from the Texas Supreme Court on critical discovery issues in multi-million-dollar personal-injury litigation, persuaded the Court to deny review of substantial products liability and oil and gas judgments, and secured a Texas Supreme Court decision clarifying the authority of Texas appraisal districts and the standards for trial de novo review.

Mark’s federal appellate and trial-court work includes obtaining summary judgment in a False Claims Act case in which plaintiffs sought $266 billion in damages against a major oil company, and then successfully defending the take-nothing judgment in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He persuaded the Fifth Circuit to affirm a nearly $40 million judgment for a client in a vigorously contested refinery construction dispute following a five-week jury trial, to affirm a take-nothing summary judgment for a fracking-engine manufacturer in $15 million products liability litigation, and to reverse a district court’s vacatur of an arbitration award, vindicating the reputational interests of a partner at a major law firm. In a significant permissive appeal in Texas state court, he obtained take-nothing summary judgments against 23 plaintiffs, vindicating a premises owner’s immunity under Texas workers’ compensation laws against personal-injury claims arising from an explosion.

Mark collaborates closely with trial teams — at his firm and elsewhere — on the case-shaping issues that determine appellate outcomes, including dispositive motions, challenges to expert testimony, jury charge design, trial briefs, error preservation, and post-trial motions. Recent examples include appellate support in force majeure litigation arising out of Winter Storm Uri — including the first-ever bench trial in a Texas business court, which produced a favorable force majeure declaration and defeat of a $26 million counterclaim, and a related six-day jury trial that produced a $9.8 million judgment and a take-nothing result on $123 million in counterclaims — and confirmation of a $99 million arbitration award on fiduciary duty, professional malpractice, and conversion claims. Mark also authors amicus briefs in cases of statewide and national significance, including a brief for the International Franchise Association whose reasoning the Texas Supreme Court adopted in reversing an adverse decision and clarifying the standard for franchisor liability under Texas law.

A highlight of Mark’s career has been his work on behalf of Texas public schools, which grew out of a law review article he authored at Yale Law School on the history of Texas school finance litigation. He played a lead role in a lawsuit that resulted in more than $2 billion for Texas public schools and later served as lead counsel at trial and on appeal for a coalition of 88 school districts in a second constitutional challenge to the state’s school finance system.

Mark was named as a 2023 and 2025 Lawyer of the Year—Appellate Practice in Houston by The Best Lawyers in America directory, recognized by Texas Super Lawyers (Thompson Reuters) among the top 100 lawyers in Texas and top appellate lawyers in the state, and ranked by Chambers USA (Chambers and Partners) for appellate law in Texas from 2019-2026. Clients quoted by Chambers have described him as “truly stellar,” “an amazing practitioner with an eye towards tackling complicated issues,” a “top expert in appellate law who works extraordinarily well with his clients,” and an “excellent lawyer who has a unique way of writing that makes him stand out from the pack.”

Mark is a fellow of the invite-only American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute. He recently served as chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section and currently serves as immediate past president of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS) and Vice-President of the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society. He previously served as chair of the Southwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League and on the Education Policy Committee of the United Way of Greater Houston. Mark writes and speaks frequently on legal topics, with a recent focus on nuclear verdicts, using AI in appellate practice, arbitration issues, brief writing, and Fifth Circuit and Texas Supreme Court trends.