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500Lawdragon Q & A with:Gregory mArkelbY John rYanCadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has “changeddramatically” in recent years as a result of the financialcrisis, according to Gregory Markel, a member ofthe firm’s management committee. Though it remainsone of the top firms in the area of securitizations, thereduction in the volume of such work has led to agreater diversification of practices within the firm. Onekey mainstay of Cadwalader, however, is Markel himself,one of the nation’s leading practitioners in securities,antitrust, banking and other complex commerciallitigation.LAWDRAGon: What are you seeing now in types ofsecurities cases?GREGoRY MARKEL: What has happened in securitieslitigation generally, as I see it, is that there has been ashift in recent years from the old stock-drop cases.There just aren’t as many as there used to be. Butwhat have become much more prevalent are mergercases. Almost every merger is attacked by some plaintiffs’lawyer, where the theory is often a breach of fiduciaryduty.LD: Did you always know you wanted to practice in thisarea of law?GM: No, I didn’t. It was not clear what area I wanted topractice in when I was in law school. I had an undergraduatedegree in economics and an MBA before lawschool. My thought was that I should make use of thatunderstanding of business and economics as part ofmy law practice, but I was not exactly sure how I wouldgo about it. As a matter of fact, my first year out of lawschool, I was working at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, andthey put me in the corporate department – and that’swhere I thought I would fit in. After a year or two, Ihated it and thought, “Let me try some litigation,” andI loved it. I was exposed to the significant practicethat Cravath has in complex cases, and it was justsomething that I loved and thrived on.LD: What exactly do you like about it?GM: I think there are at least three factors. One is thatyou can have a very varied practice; you learn a lot ofthings about companies and how businesses operate.You’re continually learning, and I think it is fair to saythat I have an inquiring mind. Second, I enjoy competition.It’s not so much about financial competition, butI’ve always liked sports and to me with litigation you’recompeting to win on both a micro-level – with a motionto dismiss or a discovery motion – and on the macrolevelof trying to win the case. That appeals to me,given my personality, as opposed to being a corporatelawyer, where you are trying to get a document or adeal to work. I have nothing against that, it takesgreat skill, but it didn’t have that certain aspect ofcompetition that I like.And third, and probably the most significant part, isthat in litigation you spend your time trying to figureout a strategy to get a successful result for your client.It could be going to trial, prevailing on summary judgmentor positioning for a settlement. There are lots ofdifferent ways, given the facts of a situation or case,to get a successful result. You have to come up withthe right strategy, and you’re constantly revising itbased on changes in facts or what you learn about thecase. It’s fun and intellectually challenging.LD: What would you describe as the new state of thefirm, given the recent changes?GM: The firm has changed dramatically, and a wholelot of the credit goes to [chairman] Chris White. Wehad well over 200 lawyers in structured finance andover 100 in real estate finance at the end of 2006.Today there are 90 to 100 top lawyers working in securitization.On the other hand, we have expanded manypractices from late 2007 to today. We added a greatenergy practice, significantly increased our antitrustgroup in Washington – they’re exceptional – and wehave top white-collar lawyers in litigation. We alsobrought in people in areas of structured finance wedidn’t do before. We have lawyers in private equity thatare outstanding and in M&A, and we have a terrificgroup of regulatory lawyers under the leadership ofSteve Lofchie who also came in during the same period.LD: What do you do for fun outside the law?GM: I’m pretty much addicted to exercise. We have agym in the first floor of the building that I use early inthe morning. That helps me clear my head. I spend agreat deal of time with my wife, Belinda. We’ve beenmarried for 31 years, we are best friends and reallyspend a lot of time together. My kids are in their 20sand close by and that is great....We also are both interested in art and have a bit ofan art collection. We don’t buy million-dollar paintings,but we both enjoy spending time looking at art. Mostof the time we don’t buy, but it’s rewarding looking atart and occasionally finding something that we likeand can afford. That’s a lot of fun.See the full Q&A at www.lawdragon.com/lawyer-limelights/gregory-markel.L A W D R A G O N 84 I s s u e 13Photo by: Greg Endries