Mark L. D. Wawro

Susman Godfrey L.L.P.

Mark Wawro has produced an outstanding string of trial victories. Since 1980, he has won substantial damage awards for plaintiffs in numerous cases . Wawro has been just as successful representing defendants. He teamed with Steve Susman at trial in Zapata County, Texas, to defeat a claim by Coastal Oil & Gas Corporation seeking a judgment worth more than $700 million. This case was profiled in The Texas Lawyer.

Wawro’s trial achievements have been widely recognized. In 2005, The American Lawyer called two of his victories “impressive” and “well-litigated.” The Texas Lawyercalled his $536.2 million jury verdict “groundbreaking.” Wawro’s cases have been profiled in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Houston Chronicle, The National Law Journal, and USA Today.

Wawro has been featured in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White Inc.) since 1999, and has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics Magazine (Thomson Reuters, 2003-2021). He has been named as one of the “World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers” by International Commercial Litigation (Benchmark), and as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation (2015). Since 2004, he has been ranked one of the best lawyers in the United States by Chambers USA. Chambers USA praised Wawro’s “thorough preparation and excellent presentation skills in a broad litigation practice.” Wawro’s plaintiff’s verdict for George Rodriguez against the City of Houston was the Constitutional Law verdict of the year by The Texas Lawyer.  In 2013, Wawro was inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA).  LCA is a trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.

Wawro brings intelligence and creativity to his broad trial practice. In 1988, The Texas Lawyer called one of his trial victories “a first” for its application of a repudiation theory to a take-or pay contract. In 2005, The American Lawyer praised Wawro’s strategy in arbitrating a securities case for Jim Hunter without discovery: “The arbitrators granted Hunter $27.8 million. ‘The jurisdictional issues were quite significant, but we got 100 percent of what we were seeking,’ says Hunter. ‘I couldn’t be more pleased.’”