Marcus & Shapira LLP

Marcus & Shapira represents some of the region’s most successful companies and institutions in their most significant disputes and negotiations. In addition to providing exceptional advocacy and service on matters of any size or complexity, the firm emphasizes a personal touch and developing a deep understanding of its clients’ challenges and needs. That means more communication, face time, and trust between the client and the attorneys representing them.

Marcus & Shapira’s attorneys are graduates of the top law schools in the country, including the University of Chicago, Duke, Duquesne, Georgetown, George Washington University, Michigan, New York University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Many clerked for federal and state judges, are former Assistant United States Attorneys, and spent years at renowned “Big Law” firms like Quinn Emanuel, Paul Weiss, Arnold & Porter, Kenyon & Kenyon, Covington & Burling, Morrison & Foerster, McDermott Will & Emery, Steptoe, Reed Smith, and others.

The firm combines the efficiency and economy of a boutique law firm with the skill and experience of the largest firms in the region.

Main Areas of Practice:

• Litigation & Dispute Resolution. Clients seek out Marcus & Shapira to handle high-stakes trials and arbitrations, important appeals, critical settlement negotiations, and all manner of litigation challenges including complex, commercial, corporate, tax, estate, employment, and artificial intelligence data center litigation. The firm represents a wide variety of clients that range from small companies and individually owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies. Whether it represents a plaintiff or a defendant, an individual or a major corporation, Marcus & Shapira’s litigators know how to cut to the heart of a dispute. The firm has a deep bench of experienced and dedicated trial lawyers, and its out-of-court advocacy and negotiating skills often resolve disputes before a lawsuit is filed. The firm also strives to minimize the cost of litigation for its clients without sacrificing the quality of its representation. For a law firm with such a diverse and sophisticated litigation practice, its efficiency sets Marcus & Shapira apart.

• Labor & Employment. Marcus & Shapira provides practical, sophisticated, and cost-effective advice on all aspects of labor and employment issues, to both unionized and non-unionized employers. The firm’s labor and employment attorneys have represented some of the largest employers in the region, along with many smaller and mid-sized companies, individuals, and trustees of employee benefit funds. Marcus & Shapira partners with clients to implement creative solutions and business-focused strategies.

• Insurance Coverage. A major portion of the firm’s litigation practice involves insurance coverage disputes. While Marcus & Shapira historically represented some of the largest insurers, including Lloyds of London and Aetna, in major toxic tort and other coverage actions, it now principally represents insureds whose insurers have wrongfully denied them coverage. For both individuals and businesses, Marcus & Shapira has been victorious in seeking coverage under director & officer liability policies, commercial general liability policies, technology services liability policies, professional malpractice policies, employment practices policies, homeowners policies, and motor vehicle liability policies. In a bellwether case for the insurance industry, Marcus & Shapira recently filed suit on behalf of a large pharmacy chain client seeking millions in defense and indemnity coverage for public nuisance claims involving the opioids epidemic. Nearly every major CGL insurer is involved in this coverage dispute. Industry observers are closely watching the outcome of the case. Marcus & Shapira also recently obtained coverage for different insureds sued in different actions for patent infringement. After extensive litigation, Marcus & Shapira also recently obtained coverage under a homeowners policy for defamation claims asserted against a prominent lung transplant surgeon.

• Intellectual Property. Marcus & Shapira lawyers have extensive experience representing parties in intellectual property litigation, whether patent infringement, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation, rights of publicity, breach of non-disclosure agreements, breach of license agreements, and the like. The firm has obtained intellectual property protection for clients, and it has provided opinions about third party patents, trademarks and copyrights. Marcus & Shapira also drafts and negotiates contracts involving intellectual property rights. The firm’s attorneys have represented clients in intellectual property cases litigated in federal district courts, federal appeals courts and even in state courts.

• Personal Injury. Unlike most firms, Marcus & Shapira has wide-ranging experience both pursuing and defending personal injury claims. From its founding, the firm has represented individuals seriously injured or, even more tragically, whose lives were cut short due to the carelessness of others. Marcus & Shapira has developed considerable expertise involving motor vehicle accidents, bicycle accidents, slip and fall accidents, product defect injuries, and plane crashes. The firm also routinely defends businesses facing potential liability for myriad types of personal injury and product liability claims.

• Antitrust & Competition. The firm’s attorneys specialize in multiple areas of antitrust law, advising clients in compliance and risk management and representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex, multi-district litigation antitrust cases. Marcus & Shapira often challenges agreements between and among competitors to fix prices, allocate markets or customers, or engage in vertical or horizontal conspiracies. The firm litigates claims alleging anticompetitive practices in multiple industries. It brings lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies aimed at reducing the costs of important drugs. In “pay-for-delay” matters, the firm’s clients allege that anti-competitive practices delay the entry of generic drugs to the market and illegally prevent consumers from having access to quality, low-cost generic alternatives. Marcus & Shapira litigates cases involving widely consumed food products like beef, pork, chickens, packaged seafood, eggs and mushrooms and represents clients in cases challenging anticompetitive practices in the multi-billion-dollar payment card industry.

• Construction Litigation. Marcus & Shapira represents clients in all sectors of the construction industry, including engineers, architects, general contractors, subcontractors, owners, developers, construction managers and insurance companies. The firm handles matters involving both public and private projects, including hotels, condominiums, residential developments, schools, sports stadiums, sewage treatment plants and collection systems, prisons, office buildings, transportation projects, retail buildings/complexes and industrial sites.

• Estate Planning & Administration. Marcus & Shapira provides a full array of estate planning services to individuals, entrepreneurs, owners of family businesses, and fiduciaries. The firm structures customized plans to implement its clients’ unique needs, including wealth transfer, tax minimization, business succession planning, and asset protection. No matter the age or net worth of its clients, the firm creates estate plans that express their intent and ensures their wishes are carried out after their death. Marcus & Shapira also has extensive experience in estate and trust administration.