Mark D. Schwartz
Encyclopedia
Mark D. Schwartz is an attorney in private practice known for his defence of whistle blowers and his handling of litigation involving the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. In addition to employment law and civil rights
litigaton, he also has handled prominent probate
cases.
Schwartz practices entertainment and media law, as well as arranging the angel financing of theatrical productions, which befits a lawyer whose original desire was to become an actor. He has appeared as a professional actor in Off-Broadway productions while continuing to practice the law.
, where he majored in political science
, Schwartz served as legislative assistant to K. Leroy Irvis, the Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
, from 1975 through 1976, when he went on to law school. After taking his J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1979, Scwhartz eventually became an investment banker
, rising to the position of first vice president of Prudential-Bache Securities's public-finance department in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
The public finance business
, which involved the marketing of municipal bonds, was rife with corruption.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/broken_promises2.html He has appeared on Fox Business as a commentator on corruption in the municipal bond
market.http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/26986471/wall-street-crushes-alabama-town.htm
after filing a lawsuit against the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). An NASD arbitration panel never looked into his allegations, though a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation substantiated his charges. As a result of the SEC investigation, the securities industry promised to curb abuses in the solicitation of political donations.
Though the Federal Election Commission
subsequently fined Prudential for the shakedown of its employees, securities industry arbitrators upheld the dismissal of Schwartz. The experience gave Schwartz an appreciation for the predicament of whistle blowers, which is now the focus of his private, one-man "boutique" law firm in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
, along with corporate fraud.
, Home Depot employees testified that employees were encouraged to routinely overcharge vendors for damaged or defective merchandise. It was revealed that Home Depot even established a quota of overcharges that employees had to meet. http://www.nypost.com/seven/05182007/business/vendor_bending_in_depot_case_business_suzanne_kapner.htm
His most high profile case before Home Depot was the probate case involving the estate of the late violinist Isaac Stern
. Representing Stern's grown children, Schwartz successfully sued estate executor William Moorhead, a friend of Stern's third wife, Linda Reynolds Stern, who had cut Stern's children by his second wife Vera out of his will due to her influence over Moorhead.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6652670/site/newsweek/
Schwartz also represented the late children's book author/ullustrator Tasha Tudor in her successful fight to regain the copyrights to her early books, which had been purloined by her publisher. Currently, he is representing Tudor's son Thomas Tudor, who serves as associate general counsel for international affairs for the United States Air Force
, in the probate of her estate.http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/08/28/author_illustrators_children_at_odds/?page=full
In 1978, Schwartz was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp
(a Democrat) to the state's Juvenile Justice & Delinquency
Prevention Advisory Committee of the Governor’s Justice Commission. He was reappointed by Governor Dick Thornburgh
, a Republican, and served on the committee until 1989.
He served as Counsel to the Chair of the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Committee
during the 1988 Democratic Presidential Convention
.
In 1989, Scwhartz was appointed by the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House to be a Commissioner of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission
, an oversight body that approves the issaunce of regulations by public agencies in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served as a commissioner through 1994.
In 1991, then Philadelphia mayor Edward Rendell nnamed Schwartz to the Mayor’s Transition Team and to the Mayor’s Private Sector Task Force.
He was named a board member of the Philadelphia Crime Prevention Association's Finance Committee in 1992.
Despite the patronage of Edward Rendell, Schwartz has not shied away from criticizing him and his failure to reign in political corruption in Pennsylvania, as he did in a July 2009 op-ed piece on the conviction of former Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumohttp://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/50109117.html. Schartz had also been a visible opponent of the controversial project to relocate the Barnes Foundation art collection, a project funded by a grant from the Rendell Administration.
in its fight against the relocation of the art collection owned by the Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania to a proposed new museum in downtown Philadelphia
. The Barnes Foundation is seeking to move the collection, which features paintings by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir and is valued in excess of $2 billion, to a new Philadelphia-based museum in order to boost viewership and improve the Foundation's finances.
Under the terms of the will of the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes, who bought the paintings, the collection is supposed to remain in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia. The push to move the collection to Philadelphia has the support of Governor Edward Rendell. According to the New York Times, Barnes' will "stipulated that no picture in his collection could be lent, sold or moved from the walls of the galleries that he built for it in Merion...." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/arts/design/20arts-FIGHTINGFORT_BRF.html?ex=1350532800&en=7cfcef273976f778&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Schwartz has also represented the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a group supporting maintaining the art collection in Lower Merion.
in a 2000 production of "Cruelties," a play about Truman Capote
. As a teenager, he had wanted to become an actor, but didn't consider drama a sufficiently "serious" occupation, so studied political science at Swarthmore instead.http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/inthelead/20010801-inthelead.html
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
litigaton, he also has handled prominent probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
cases.
Schwartz practices entertainment and media law, as well as arranging the angel financing of theatrical productions, which befits a lawyer whose original desire was to become an actor. He has appeared as a professional actor in Off-Broadway productions while continuing to practice the law.
Education and background
A graduate of Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, where he majored in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, Schwartz served as legislative assistant to K. Leroy Irvis, the Majority Leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two year terms from single member districts....
, from 1975 through 1976, when he went on to law school. After taking his J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 1979, Scwhartz eventually became an investment banker
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
, rising to the position of first vice president of Prudential-Bache Securities's public-finance department in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
The public finance business
Bond market
The bond market is a financial market where participants can issue new debt, known as the primary market, or buy and sell debt securities, known as the Secondary market, usually in the form of bonds. The primary goal of the bond market is to provide a mechanism for long term funding of public and...
, which involved the marketing of municipal bonds, was rife with corruption.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/broken_promises2.html He has appeared on Fox Business as a commentator on corruption in the municipal bond
Municipal bond
A municipal bond is a bond issued by a city or other local government, or their agencies. Potential issuers of municipal bonds includes cities, counties, redevelopment agencies, special-purpose districts, school districts, public utility districts, publicly owned airports and seaports, and any...
market.http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/26986471/wall-street-crushes-alabama-town.htm
Prudential-Bache retaliation
In 1989, Schwartz complained about retaliation against employees who refused to make campaign contributions to political candidates favored by Prudential Bache Securities management. He was sacked as a "disgruntled employee" and subsequently blacklisted in the securities industryBond market
The bond market is a financial market where participants can issue new debt, known as the primary market, or buy and sell debt securities, known as the Secondary market, usually in the form of bonds. The primary goal of the bond market is to provide a mechanism for long term funding of public and...
after filing a lawsuit against the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). An NASD arbitration panel never looked into his allegations, though a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation substantiated his charges. As a result of the SEC investigation, the securities industry promised to curb abuses in the solicitation of political donations.
Though the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
subsequently fined Prudential for the shakedown of its employees, securities industry arbitrators upheld the dismissal of Schwartz. The experience gave Schwartz an appreciation for the predicament of whistle blowers, which is now the focus of his private, one-man "boutique" law firm in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
, along with corporate fraud.
Cases
Currently, Schwartz is involved in litigation against Home Depot, defending Michael Davis, a whistleblower whom the company terminated. According to a May 18, 2007 story in the New York PostNew York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Home Depot employees testified that employees were encouraged to routinely overcharge vendors for damaged or defective merchandise. It was revealed that Home Depot even established a quota of overcharges that employees had to meet. http://www.nypost.com/seven/05182007/business/vendor_bending_in_depot_case_business_suzanne_kapner.htm
His most high profile case before Home Depot was the probate case involving the estate of the late violinist Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
. Representing Stern's grown children, Schwartz successfully sued estate executor William Moorhead, a friend of Stern's third wife, Linda Reynolds Stern, who had cut Stern's children by his second wife Vera out of his will due to her influence over Moorhead.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6652670/site/newsweek/
Schwartz also represented the late children's book author/ullustrator Tasha Tudor in her successful fight to regain the copyrights to her early books, which had been purloined by her publisher. Currently, he is representing Tudor's son Thomas Tudor, who serves as associate general counsel for international affairs for the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, in the probate of her estate.http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/08/28/author_illustrators_children_at_odds/?page=full
Public service
As legislative assistant to the Pennsylvania House Majority Leader in the mid-1970s, Schwartz served as a speech writer and developed legislation. His responsibilities included the directorship of the House Rules Committee. Schwartz also was involved in administrative agency oversight.In 1978, Schwartz was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp
Milton Shapp
Milton Jerrold Shapp was the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and was the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania.- Early life :...
(a Democrat) to the state's Juvenile Justice & Delinquency
Prevention Advisory Committee of the Governor’s Justice Commission. He was reappointed by Governor Dick Thornburgh
Dick Thornburgh
Richard Lewis "Dick" Thornburgh is an American lawyer and Republican politician who served as the 41st Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S...
, a Republican, and served on the committee until 1989.
He served as Counsel to the Chair of the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
during the 1988 Democratic Presidential Convention
1988 Democratic National Convention
The 1988 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia from July 18–July 21, 1988 to select a candidate for the 1988 United States presidential election. At the convention Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts was nominated for President and...
.
In 1989, Scwhartz was appointed by the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House to be a Commissioner of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission
Independent Regulatory Review Commission
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission is an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is responsible for the review of regulations from nearly all state agencies, boards and commissions before they go into effect...
, an oversight body that approves the issaunce of regulations by public agencies in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served as a commissioner through 1994.
In 1991, then Philadelphia mayor Edward Rendell nnamed Schwartz to the Mayor’s Transition Team and to the Mayor’s Private Sector Task Force.
He was named a board member of the Philadelphia Crime Prevention Association's Finance Committee in 1992.
Despite the patronage of Edward Rendell, Schwartz has not shied away from criticizing him and his failure to reign in political corruption in Pennsylvania, as he did in a July 2009 op-ed piece on the conviction of former Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumohttp://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/50109117.html. Schartz had also been a visible opponent of the controversial project to relocate the Barnes Foundation art collection, a project funded by a grant from the Rendell Administration.
Barnes Foundation Controversy
Schwartz has represented Montgomery County, PennsylvaniaMontgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
in its fight against the relocation of the art collection owned by the Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania to a proposed new museum in downtown Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. The Barnes Foundation is seeking to move the collection, which features paintings by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir and is valued in excess of $2 billion, to a new Philadelphia-based museum in order to boost viewership and improve the Foundation's finances.
Under the terms of the will of the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes, who bought the paintings, the collection is supposed to remain in Lower Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia. The push to move the collection to Philadelphia has the support of Governor Edward Rendell. According to the New York Times, Barnes' will "stipulated that no picture in his collection could be lent, sold or moved from the walls of the galleries that he built for it in Merion...." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/arts/design/20arts-FIGHTINGFORT_BRF.html?ex=1350532800&en=7cfcef273976f778&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Schwartz has also represented the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a group supporting maintaining the art collection in Lower Merion.
Life beyond the law
Schwartz, who also is an actor, appeared Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in a 2000 production of "Cruelties," a play about Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
. As a teenager, he had wanted to become an actor, but didn't consider drama a sufficiently "serious" occupation, so studied political science at Swarthmore instead.http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/inthelead/20010801-inthelead.html