William A. Markham, San Diego Attorney

Mr. Markham is a San Diego attorney who obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1987 (see below for more information on his professional credentials). He is an experienced, highly successful litigator of complex business and real estate disputes, and he has litigated a wide array of such matters for plaintiffs and defendants in California since 1988. He has obtained superb results time after time for his clients, who have included major companies, established firms, entrepreneurs, investors, businesspeople and others.

Professional Experience: Mr. Markham has particular experience handling the following kinds of cases: Complex business disputes, antitrust matters, and real estate disputes.

Complex business disputes: Mr. Markham litigates disputes between companies, disputes over commercial contracts, partnership/LLC membership disputes, shareholder disputes, co-investor disputes, and the full range of issues that concern contract law, misrepresentation, and commercial law.

Antitrust matters: Mr. Markham litigates antitrust cases for both plaintiffs and defendants in federal cases arising under the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act as well as in California cases arising under the Cartwright Act. In particular, he has litigated the following kinds of antitrust claims: Price-fixing, bid-rigging, horizontal market allocation, tying agreements, unreasonable restraints of trade, monopolization claims, and various related matters. He has substantial experience litigating major antitrust cases and has handled antitrust matters that have arisen in the following industries: Telecommunications and telecommunications infrastructure, petrochemicals and petroleum refining, computer hardware, computer software development and maintenance, marine/harbor infrastructures, and various other lines of commerce. He has also handled criminal cases for "subjects", "targets", and putative defendants in ongoing antitrust investigations, and he has handled amnesty matters that arise under the Department of Justice's guidelines for antitrust amnesty.

Real estate disputes: Mr. Markham handles real estate litigation of every description, including condemnation matters, real estate development disputes, lender representation in foreclosure matters, complex foreclosures, real estate contract disputes, title disputes, lien priority disputes, real estate fraud, judicial partitions, and other kinds of real estate matters. Among other things, he was the lead attorney for the defendants in City of Santa Cruz v. Lau, a condemnation case done by a public agency for the benefit of a private developer. The Lau case, which was litigated in 2005, received front-page coverage in the New York Times and coverage from various national TV and radio networks. This was a groundbreaking case of eminent domain law in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's surprising Kelo decision.

Mr. Markham has obtained superb results, often in very difficult matters, precisely because he is genuinely prepared to take each case to trial and to win on the merits at trial. This approach often leads to successful settlements or, failing this, to a successful verdict.

Legal Publications/Law Professor Work: Mr. Markham has written several articles on commercial and real estate law, which are widely read and have served as reference sources for other attorneys and the public at large. (Please see his articles.) Moreover, he has twice served on the side as an adjunct law professor while continuing to practice law on a full-time basis, offering one course at Hastings Law School in 1990 and another at Lincoln Law School in 1994.

Professional Credentials. Mr. Markham received his law degree in 1987 from Harvard Law School, and while there he served as an editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. After law school, he passed the California Bar exam on his first attempt and was admitted by petition to the DC Bar Association because of his qualifying high score on the California Bar exam.

In 1988 he became an associate attorney in one of the leading international firms of the time, Coudert Brothers, working in its San Francisco office. At Coudert he received his initial professional training and first learned to litigate major antitrust matters.

He established his own law practice in 1990. Since then he has evolved into a seasoned trial lawyer who mostly litigates real estate disputes and commercial matters in California. He enjoyed a short sabbatical from his work during part of 2001.

In addition, Mr. Markham is completely fluent in English and French and can converse fluently in Spanish. He uses his language skills not only to communicate with clients efficiently in their native language, but also to keep abreast of ongoing developments in competition law in the United States, the European Union, Canada and Mexico. He is admitted to practice law in California, Washington, D.C. and various federal courts. You can contact him directly at wm@maldonadomarkham.com