Mark Knights

Prior to joining Nixon Peabody, Mark served as a law clerk for Judge Mary Beck Briscoe of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and Chief Judge Joseph Laplante of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

What do you focus on?

My practice encompasses a broad range of complex criminal and civil matters.

I provide guidance to individual and institutional clients at all stages of state and federal government investigations, prosecutions and enforcement actions. I help businesses mitigate the risk of investigation and prosecution by designing and implementing strategies to prevent—and, if necessary, detect and remedy—wrongdoing by employees. Among other things, I have represented a major technology company faced with a Korean government investigation into alleged theft of trade secrets, a major financial services firm targeted in a civil investigation into alleged fair lending violations by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, a large manufacturer of highway safety products in a federal investigation into allegations of false claims to the Federal Highway Administration, and a large professional services firm subpoenaed by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in a public corruption investigation.

I also represent both plaintiffs and defendants in a number of commercial litigation matters. I have extensive experience defending against putative class actions, and previously represented a major national bank in a multi-district federal litigation comprised of over 30 different consolidated class actions. In another, vigorously defended intellectual property action, I helped a large manufacturer obtain a multimillion dollar settlement from a competitor.

What do you see on the horizon?

State governments are under more financial pressure now than ever before. In pursuit of alternative streams of revenue, state attorneys general and regulatory agencies will aggressively pursue criminal and civil enforcement actions that carry the risk of large fines and financial penalties. At the federal level, we will continue to see prosecutors apply close scrutiny to companies operating in the highly regulated fields of health care, pharmaceuticals and financial services, and they will increasingly employ an array of civil enforcement mechanisms. In this environment, it is crucial for businesses to retain experienced counsel to assist them in swiftly responding to both criminal and civil investigations.