Christopher M. Mason
Partner

Practice Areas

Experience

Christopher Mason’s practice focuses on litigation and appeals, particularly class actions, and on arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution techniques, as well as litigation prevention and avoidance.

Mr. Mason has experience in securities and consumer class actions; shareholder derivative suits; telecommunications cases; antitrust; banking, finance, and international trade cases; bankruptcy and workouts; copyright, trademark, computer software, Internet, and new media issues; energy and project finance disputes; First Amendment litigation; consumer affairs, marketing, and advertising issues; employment law; and Securities and Exchange Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Justice, and other governmental investigations.

Mr. Mason has handled cases in courts in, among other places, Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C., as well as various matters with the American Arbitration Association, the United States Food and Drug Administration, the National Association of Securities Dealers, and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. His experience includes a number of disputes involving cross-border legal issues, among them Argentinean, Australian, Canadian, Chinese, Colombian, Croatian, English, French, Irish, Italian, Hungarian, Jamaican, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, and Swiss matters.

Mr. Mason has been recognized for his exceptional standing in the legal community in the area of Business Litigation in the 2006 and 2007 editions of New York Super Lawyers. He has successfully represented clients in a number of substantial class actions and other complex cases in the past several years. A few interesting outcomes include:

Ranieri v. Bell Atl. Mobile (NY App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2003), where the court, in a significant holding (and with respect to an arbitration clause drafted by Mr. Mason), concluded that “a contractual proscription against class actions” in a form consumer contract “is neither unconscionable nor violative of public policy.”

D.S. Meyerson Assocs., Inc. v. Allen (SDNY 2002), where, in a unique role as settlement counsel after years of dispute and litigation by other lawyers, he achieved a swift and favorable settlement of all claims.

Campbell v. AirTouch Cellular (Cal. Super. Ct. San Diego County 2004), one of the largest class actions in history, where he achieved a successful settlement after several years of litigation.

Miletich v. Bookmeier (Sup. Ct. NY County 2002), where he concluded a highly favorable settlement in a difficult shareholder derivative suit.

In re Cellco Consumer Litig. (NJ Super. Ct. Camden County 2002), where he secured a dismissal after a number of years of litigation (including a successful decertification fight) of a multistate, consolidated consumer class action involving tens of millions of putative class members.

Quick Page of New Jersey, Inc. v. Cellco P’ship (AAA Nov. 22, 2001), where he won an arbitration award under the Lanham Act and other theories enjoining advertising and infringing behavior by a former distributor.

AXA Réassurance S.A. v. Chase Manhattan Bank (NY Sup. Ct. County 2000), where he won dismissal of all claims against a well known motion picture producer, allowing the producer to pursue his own claims in arbitration.

Federated Strategic Income Fund v. Mechala Group Jamaica Ltd. (SDNY.1999), where he won an unprecedented injunction on Trust Indenture Act grounds against a tender offer for debt securities.

Omnipoint Communications, Inc. v. New York Yankee P’ship (NY Sup. Ct. NY County 1999), where he won summary judgment on all counts in a case involving substantial breach of contract and tortious interference claims for advertising in Yankee Stadium.

Recent Publications

New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer (A publication of the Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association), Spring 2009--Vol. 2--No. 1, "New Rule 5.5 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct and the Representation of Parties in New York Arbitrations by Lawyers Not Licensed to Practice in New York"

Third Circuit, Refusing to Apply the Law Chosen on the Face of a Contract, Reverses and Remands for Consideration of a Class Action Waiver in an Arbitration Clause

Good Hygiene for Special Litigation Committees

Second Circuit Creates Doubt About Arbitration Clauses and Class Action Waivers in Credit Card Contracts.

Supreme Court Holds that Parties May Not Agree to Expand Grounds for Vacating or Modifying an Arbitration Agreement Under Federal Arbitration Act.

Class Action Lawsuits and Related Cases in the United States: A Short Guide for Swedish Businesses in Lagen Om Grupprätegång and Experiences from the USA with Class Actions and Product Liability.

Recent Presentations

“Developments in Class Action Litigation” Professional Indemnity Agency, 2007.

“When and How to Use Mediation to Your Advantage” New York State Bar Association/ADR Committee Annual Program, 2007.

“Building the Mediation Profession: Are We Certifiable?” Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York, 2006.

“Alternative Dispute Resolution—What Corporate Counsel Need to Know to Effectively Manage Business Challenges,” 18th Annual General Counsel Conference, 2006.

“Factors in Choosing a Mediator for a Business Dispute,” Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution of the New York State Bar Association, 2006.

“Electronic Discovery Today,” Annual California MCLE Program, 2006.

“Foreign Corrupt Practice Act Basics,” Annual California MCLE Program, 2006.

“Shoring Up Your Defenses: Thoughts for Corporate Counsel about Defending Future Class Actions,” Marcus Evans Conference on How to Effectively Master, Settle, and Manage Your Insurance Litigation, 2005.

“The Class Action Fairness Act and the New York State Courts (And Some Other Interesting Class Action Developments),” New York State Bar Association, 2005.

“Corporate Dissolution in New York State: The Basics and Some Advanced Issues,” New York State Judicial Institute, 2005.

Admissions

Mr. Mason is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia; the United States district courts for the Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Western districts of New York and the District of Columbia; the United States Court of International Trade; the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals of the United States; the United States courts of appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and District of Columbia circuits; and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Education

Duke University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude (Order of the Coif)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A., summa cum laude (Phi Beta Kappa)

Affiliations

Mr. Mason is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section, Committee on Commercial and Banking Litigation; Antitrust Section), the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Consumer Affairs Committee; Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee), the New York State Bar Association (Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee), and the Federal Bar Council. He is a court-appointed mediator for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Commercial Division. Mr. Mason is a former law clerk to the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.