W Mark Lanier
The Lanier Law Firm Founder and Lead Counsel
W. Mark Lanier founded The Lanier Law Firm in 1990. Since then, Lanier has earned widespread recognition as one of the top trial lawyers in the United States. His work for clients across the country is supported by firm offices in Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Palo Alto, California.
His peers and the media consistently recognize Lanier among the country’s leading legal minds. In its coverage of Lanier’s stunning verdict in the nation’s first VIOXX trial Ernst v. Merck, The New York Times described him as “one of the top civil trial lawyers in America…” Under his Leadership, U.S. News and World Report named The Lanier Law Firm to its list of Best Law Firms and Best Lawyers has named Mark Lanier as the 2012 Top Class Action Attorney. The National Law Journal has twice named him one of the nation’s Top 10 Trial Attorneys, as well as naming Lanier as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America. In 2010, The National Law Journal named Mark as one of the most Influential Attorneys of the Decade. He has earned similar honors from other publications, including being named to The Trial Lawyer Magazine’s America’s 100 Most Influential Trial Lawyers of 2011.
In addition to national recognition, Lanier also has earned accolades from his peers in Texas. In a state wide attorney survey published in Texas Monthly magazine, Lanier has earned selection to the "Texas Super Lawyers" list in 2003 through 2011. In 2002, Texas Lawyer newspaper named Lanier as one of the Top 5 “Go To” Personal Injury Plaintiff Attorneys in Texas. The Same publication named Lanier as its 2005 “Impact Player of the Year” and later recognized him as the Top Personal Injury Lawyer in Texas in 2007. Most recently they named Mark as one of the Top 25 Attorneys of the Past Quarter Century.
What the news clips can't measure or define is Mr. Lanier's commitment to and passion for his clients. Often motivated by injustice and by a sense of fair play, Mr. Lanier has sought to even the score whether his client is an individual or a large corporation.
Lanier’s courtroom work has resulted in feature articles in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Bloomberg, New York Lawyer, Texas Lawyer, and Houston Chronicle among others. He also is a frequent guest on news shows such as CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto”. He also is a regular Co-Host and contributor to Fox Business News’ highly rated “Varney and Company” with Stuart Varney.
Mr. Lanier has significant courtroom experience and has negotiated numerous significant settlements for his clients across the United States, including:
- Mr. Lanier successfully represented numerous individuals in the VIOXX, the prescription pain-relief medication that was pulled from the market after being linked to heart attacks and strokes. He set the tone for the case, nationally, when his client was awarded $253 million.
- A settlement for Retractable Technologies, a syringe manufacturer, in an antitrust case against industry giant Becton Dickinson and Company, the world's largest manufacturer of medical syringes and needles.
- A $188.3 million verdict on behalf of 21 asbestos victims in February 1998, considered one of the largest asbestos verdicts in U.S. history.
- In 1993, a $473 million verdict for a small oil company in a business fraud case against one of the nation's largest oil providers.
- A settlement with a U.S. distributor of dangerous products imported from China.
- Mr. Lanier has obtained favorable verdicts in cases ranging from train collisions, physician malpractice, defective products, commercial disputes, toxic products, water contamination as well as in representing Southern Methodist University in a land dispute regarding The George W. Bush Presidential Center and Library.
The Texas Board of Legal Specialization certifies Mr. Lanier as a personal injury trial specialist. He is licensed to practice in all Texas State and federal courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Lanier is also licensed to practice law in New York State. The Lanier Law Firm represents clients from all over the world in courtrooms across the United States. Mr. Lanier frequently instructs other attorneys about his trial techniques and how to try better cases in seminars held across the nation. Mr. Lanier is solicited often to be the featured lecturer at many of the nation’s top law schools including Harvard, Stanford, Pepperdine University, University of Chicago and Texas Tech University.
Mr. Lanier is enthusiastically involved in government and community activities outside the practice of law. Chairmen, presidents, and senior executives often call on Mr. Lanier from major American corporations and universities for his respected business views on national and international issues. In 2011, Mr. Lanier was also bestowed the distinguished Ambassador of Peace award by the Guatemalan government.
A strong supporter of his alma mater, Mr. Lanier earned his law degree from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1984. He remains active at Texas Tech by serving on the Law School's Foundation Board. Mr. Lanier was selected as the Texas Tech University School of Law Distinguished Alumnus for 2005. He is the founder of the Christian Trial Lawyers Association, a non-profit organization whose goal is to create a network of principled attorneys to minister to others through civic-minded endeavours.
Mr. Lanier is the founder of the Lanier Theological Library, one of the nation’s largest private theological collections. Also, Mr. Lanier teaches a weekly, 750-plus-member Sunday school class focusing on Biblical Literacy at Champion Forest Baptist Church. He serves on the boards of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and the Albright Institute.
Mr. Lanier is the father of five wonderful children and lives in Houston with his wife, Becky.
