Mark B Blocker

Practice Areas

MARK BLOCKER is the leader of the firm’s ERISA Litigation practice, and a partner in the Chicago office. Mark has litigated a wide array of class action claims, including 401(k) plan fees and expenses, ESOP stock drop cases, challenges to cash balance plan features, claims arising from retiree medical coverage, and other challenges to changes made to health and welfare plans. Mark’s clients have included virtually every type of entity that has been the target of ERISA litigation, including plan sponsors, recordkeepers, plan advisors, and investment option providers. Mark has specialized expertise in stable value funds, and regularly works with the stable value industry’s trade group on both litigation and policy issues. While he has regularly won cases at the motion-to-dismiss stage, Mark has successfully tried certified ERISA class actions. Outside of the litigation sphere, Mark also represents clients in Department of Labor audits and investigations, and assists clients in litigation-avoidance techniques.

Mark has also represented clients in a variety of other consumer class action contexts, and has particular expertise representing insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions. Mark also has spent a large portion of his career defending breach of fiduciary duty claims brought against trustees and other institutional fiduciaries under both federal and state laws. He is a member of the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and almost every federal court of appeals.