Mark Solomon

Mark Solomon is a founding and managing partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and leads its international litigation practice. Over the last 31 years, he has regularly represented United States and United Kingdom-based pension funds and asset managers in class and non-class securities litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States. He was first admitted to the Bar of England and Wales as a Barrister (he is non-active) and is an active member of the Bars of Ohio, California, and various United States federal district and appellate courts.

Since 1993, Mark has spearheaded the prosecution of many significant securities fraud cases. He and his teams have won jury trials and have obtained multi-hundred million-dollar recoveries for plaintiffs in pre-trial settlements as well as significant corporate governance reforms designed to limit recidivism and promote appropriate standards.

Mark currently is counsel to a number of U.K. pension funds that are serving or have served as lead plaintiffs in cases throughout the United States in the last ten years. He represented Norfolk Pension Fund in the securities fraud class action against Apple Inc. and Apple executives in In re Apple Inc. Sec. Litig. in the federal district court for the Northern District of California, which resulted in a settlement shortly before trial of $490 million payable by the defendants to the investor class – the third-largest ever securities fraud recovery in the Northern District and the fifth-largest in the Ninth Circuit. He represented the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme and the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme in Smilovits v. First Solar, Inc. in the federal district court for the District of Arizona in which the class recovered $350 million on the eve of trial. That settlement resulted in the largest-ever securities fraud recovery in the District of Arizona and the seventh-largest in the Ninth Circuit. He represented the U.K.’s Norfolk Pension Fund in Hsu v. Puma Biotechnology, Inc. where, in the federal district court for the Central District of California, after three weeks of trial, the Fund obtained a jury verdict valued at over $54 million in favor of the class against the company and its CEO. He represented Strathclyde Pension Fund in Strathclyde Pension Fund v. Bank OZK, a class action against Bank OZK and its CEO, in the federal district court for the Eastern District of Arkansas in which the class recovered $45 million. Mark also represented Strathclyde Pension Fund in In re Ply Gem Holdings, Inc. Sec. Litig. where the class recovered $26 million.

In ongoing litigation, Mark represents Norfolk Pension Fund and the class in the securities fraud class action In re Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Sec. Litig. against Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and former Anadarko executives, pending in the federal district court for the Southern District of Texas. Mark represents North East Scotland Pension Fund in the securities fraud class action against Under Armour and Under Armour executives In re Under Armour Sec. Litig., pending in the federal district court for the District of Maryland. The parties recently announced a settlement of $434 million payable by the defendants to the investor class as well as important governance reforms. The proposed settlement is in the court approval process. And, in addition to representing the foregoing U.K. lead plaintiffs, Mark is currently representing Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association in a securities fraud class action pending against FirstEnergy Corp. and FirstEnergy executives in the federal district court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Mark’s work at the plaintiffs’ bar beginning in 1993 was preceded by practice at the international firm Jones Day in Cleveland, Ohio, between 1987 and 1990, followed by practice at the Los Angeles office of New York’s Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. At these firms, his representations included the defense of securities fraud and other white-collar crimes, antitrust, copyright, commercial and real estate litigation, and reinsurance arbitration. While practicing in Los Angeles, acting for plaintiffs as sole counsel, Mark took to trial and won complex commercial contract and real estate actions in the Orange County and Los Angeles Superior Courts, respectively.

After joining the plaintiffs’ bar, and prior to the most recent financial crisis, in addition to litigating many cases that settled in the tens of millions of dollars, he also was instrumental in obtaining some of the first mega-recoveries in the field in California and Texas. While representing U.S. pension funds, he served as class counsel in the late 1990s and early 2000s in In re Informix Corp. Sec. Litig. in the federal district court for the Northern District of California, recovering $131 million for Informix investors; and he served as class counsel in Schwartz v. TXU Corp. in the federal district court for the Northern District of Texas, where he helped obtain a recovery of over $149 million for TXU investors, as well as important governance reforms. He litigated and tried the securities class action In re Helionetics, Inc. Sec. Litig., where he and his team won a $15.4 million federal jury verdict in the federal district court for the Central District of California.

Mark also led some of the first opt-out securities fraud cases to successful conclusion. Representing individual U.K. opt-out plaintiffs in litigation against PetSmart, Inc., he and his team recovered over $18 million, amounting to over 50% of their damages, where the class case failed entirely and other investors received nothing. Representing an individual U.K./U.S. investor in recent opt-out securities fraud litigation against a multi-state furniture and household goods retailer, he and his team recovered over 50 times the amount the investor would have recovered in the class case.

Following the one trial Mark has lost, which involved clients who were in dispute with their former business partners, Robbins Geller absorbed all of the related fees, costs, and expenses.

Mark is a past chair of the American Bar Association Directors, Officers Liability Sub Committee and the Accountants Liability Sub-Committee, and is the author of the U.K.’s National Association of Pension Funds 2012 “Securities Class Actions made simple” guide; the 2015 “Securities Fraud and Investors Remedies made simple” guide; and the 2018 “Global Securities Fraud Litigation made simple” guide.

Mark is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® publication, and The Legal 500 identified him as a Recommended Lawyer in its nationwide category of “Securities Litigation – Plaintiff,” citing his dual qualifications in English and U.S. law and his leadership of the Firm’s international litigation practice. He has also been named a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer and included in the 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers guide by Lawdragon as well as having been named a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine. Mark was also recognized as a Litigator of the Week by The AmLaw Litigation Daily for his work in In re Apple Inc. Sec. Litig. He earned his law degrees at Trinity College, Cambridge University, England, Harvard Law School, and the Inns of Court School of Law in London.

• Best Lawyer in America, Best Lawyer®, 2025
• Litigator of the Week, The AmLaw Litigation Daily, 2024
• Global Plaintiff Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2024
• Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2019-2024
• Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers Magazine, 2017-2018
• Recommended Lawyer, The Legal 500, 2016-2017

• Inns of Court School of Law, England, 1987
• Harvard Law School, 1986
• Trinity College, Cambridge University, England, 1985

• England and Wales (Barrister) (non-practicing)
• California
• Ohio
• United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and D.C. Circuits
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Notable Cases