About Us - LAW OFFICES OF WILLIAM MARKHAM, P.C.

About Us

The firm’s principal attorneys are William Markham and Dorn Bishop.

Mr. Markham earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1987. For the past thirty-six years, he has litigated, tried, and appealed antitrust claims, business claims, and real property claims in California. He received his initial training as antitrust litigator in a leading global law firm, then established his own firm in 1990 so that he could learn to try cases at an early stage of his career.

Mr. Markham tried many smaller matters as a young lawyer, eventually tried several substantial commercial disputes, and thus became a highly successful, accomplished trial lawyer. During the past fifteen years, he has also made and opposed several appeals and become a highly proficient appellate litigator.

Mr. Markham’s early experience trying cases in court transformed the way he litigates all of his cases. In each case, he tries to conceive of the possible claims or defenses that he might urge in favor of his client (which is what all business litigators do). He also makes a conscious effort to anticipate the closing argument that he can eventually make in support of his best claims at the conclusion of a full trial (which is what trial lawyers do). He organizes all work in each case with this overriding purpose in mind.[1]At a minimum, a closing argument must demonstrate how evidence admitted during trial establishes each required “element” of the plaintiff’s claims and also refutes any materially … Continue reading

For the past twenty years, Mr. Markham has limited his practice to his core areas of expertise, which are antitrust matters, complex business litigation, and certain kinds of real estate disputes. During this period, his antitrust engagements have included the following matters:

Lead Attorney in Major Antitrust Competitor Suits. Mr. Markham has been the lead attorney for various substantial businesses that brought competitor suits against larger rivals, obtaining highly successful outcomes in several nationally important antitrust cases in which our firm was opposed by some of the best global law firms in the world.[2]In a competitor suit, a seller contends that a rival seller has employed predatory or exclusionary business practices against it in furtherance of a larger effort to restrain or monopolize an entire … Continue reading

Lead Attorney in Business Litigations and Real Estate Litigations. Mr. Markham has represented a wide variety of businesses and individuals in various kinds of business and real-estate litigation. He relishes the work and continues to accept these kinds of cases from time to time even as he has developed his antitrust practice.

Lead Attorney for Targets and Subjects of Criminal Antitrust Investigations. Mr. Markham has represented various companies and individuals in criminal antitrust investigations and prosecutions brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, obtaining an outright exoneration of a large manufacturer of polypropylene products, antitrust amnesty for a maritime shipper, and lenient terms for an individual defendant in a bid-rigging case.

Antitrust Advisor to Global Firms, Start-Ups, and Others. Mr. Markham has provided antitrust counseling to the world’s largest manufacturer of LED products (Nichia Corporation), a global automobile manufacturer (Isuzu Motors), a global manufacturer of pulse oximetry equipment (Masimo Corporation), many other substantial companies, and other law firms.

Dorn Bishop’s Exceptional Skills and Background. Dorn Bishop works with us as an of-counsel attorney. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, a former clerk to a federal judge, a former partner in a leading global law firm, and a former Assistant United States Attorney, who in this capacity conducted more than twenty jury trials, winning all of them. He has practiced law for thirty-two years, working principally on insurance matters, white-collar crime, and business litigation.

We Can Organize Larger Teams for Big Cases. We also employ other highly qualified attorneys and paralegals, who work under the direct supervision of Mr. Markham or Mr. Bishop. In larger cases, we can assemble a first-class team of highly qualified attorneys and paralegals on short notice by calling upon professionals who are already well known to us.

Innovative Billing Arrangements and Affordable Fees. By using flexible staffing and outside service-providers whose work we trust, we can litigate complex cases against leading global law firms and respond to full-fledged government investigations and prosecutions. We perform our work at the highest degree of proficiency while offering reasonable rates and alternative fee arrangements made possible by our flexible cost structure.

Our clients have included publicly held corporations (including global firms), private companies (large and small), start-ups, joint ventures, government entities, officers and directors, partners, investors, lenders, prominent individuals, and other individuals who have suffered harm from legal wrongs.

Our Dedication to Each Case That We Accept. Above all, we are dedicated to our work and professional excellence: we treat each matter as a unique challenge and always strive to obtain the best possible results for our clients in their most challenging and important legal matters.

On this site you will find articles on the law and trial practice written by Mr. Markham, as well as more specific information about our practice areas, methods, trial victories, large settlements, and successful outcomes in antitrust cases.

We welcome your inquiry and hope that we can assist you in your matter or refer you to another law firm that can do so.

Mr. Markham's Articles on Antitrust Law

AN OVERVIEW OF ANTITRUST LAW (By William Markham, ©2000)

"Antitrust law is the law of competition and is perhaps the least understood law of all. This article provides an overview and explanation of the essential principles of antitrust law."

ANTITRUST EXEMPTIONS AND IMMUNITIES (By William Markham, ©2022)

"Over the years, Congress and the federal courts have established various immunities from federal antitrust law, removing from its reach specified commercial activities and even entire lines of commerce."

HOW THE CONSUMER-WELFARE STANDARD TRANSFORMED CLASSICAL ANTITRUST LAW (By William Markham, ©2021)

"Since the late 1970s, antitrust law in the United States has been transformed out of recognition and rendered largely toothless by consumer-welfare jurisprudence....,"

ANTITRUST AND FREE MARKETS (BY William Markham, © 2022)

“Some critics of antitrust law treat it as mere governmental overreach and an unwelcome infringement upon the ordinary operations of our free markets. (….) That criticism betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the very term ‘free markets,’ which refers to markets that are free of any undue restraint, whether public or private.”

UNLAWFUL PRICE DISCRIMINATION (By William Markham, © 2013)

“In this article I take up the obscure, problematic doctrine of illegal price discrimination, which was codified by the Robinson-Patman Act during the Great Depression, and which the modern, conservative Supreme Court has severely limited.”

WHY ANTITRUST LAWS MATTER (By William Markham, © 2006)

“The antitrust laws are supposed to promote and protect competition, or, if you will, competitive processes in distinct ‘lines of commerce’ or ‘relevant markets.’ This alone is their proper purpose.

Mr. Markham's Articles on
Trial Procedure and Contract Law

MAKING SENSE OF THE RULES OF EVIDENCE AND PRESENTING YOUR EVIDENCE AT TRIAL (By William Markham, ©2011)

"I try in this article simply to set forth a list of simple rules to explain the key points of the law of evidence. I also offer several pointers on organizing evidence in order to present it competently at trial."

ANATOMY OF A LAWSUIT (By William Markham, ©2007)

"This article is written for non-lawyers, young litigators, and non-litigator attorneys who wish to understand how a lawsuit works in practice from start to finish."

AN OVERVIEW OF CONTRACT LAW (By William Markham, ©2002)

"Contract law lies at the heart of our system of laws and serves as the foundation of our entire society.... Our society depends upon free exchange in the marketplace at every level. Contract law makes this possible."

Mr. Markham’s Antitrust Blog

References

References
1At a minimum, a closing argument must demonstrate how evidence admitted during trial establishes each required “element” of the plaintiff’s claims and also refutes any materially important defense or affirmative defense on which the defendant can meet its initial burden. Even more important, a closing argument must connect all of the dots (items of evidence) and recount a compelling narrative that is confirmed by evidence in the record and not obviously contradicted by opposing evidence. The only thing worse than a dull, meandering closing argument is a riveting one that is demonstrably untrue or begs more questions than it answers.
2In a competitor suit, a seller contends that a rival seller has employed predatory or exclusionary business practices against it in furtherance of a larger effort to restrain or monopolize an entire line of commerce.