Mark S. Wigley
Appellate and Commercial Litigation Attorney
T 919.277.9174
F 919.277.9177
E mswigley@wardandsmith.com
O Raleigh, NC
Practice Areas:
Appellate, Intellectual Property Litigation, Litigation, NC Business Court, International Trade, Customs, and Tariff Compliance
Mark focuses his practice on appeals and the trial-court rulings that often shape them, as well as a wide range of complex commercial litigation. He represents businesses, public entities, and religious and nonprofit organizations in civil litigation in state and federal court, and is frequently brought in to handle key questions of statutory interpretation, constitutional law, and commercial doctrine that decide a case.
Much of Mark’s work is in the appellate courts. He has handled cases before the Supreme Court of North Carolina, the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Seventh, and Federal Circuits. Whether leading a case from the first filing or joining a trial team for dispositive briefing and appellate strategy, he works closely with trial counsel to make sure the issues that matter are carefully developed and preserved from the start.
At the trial level, Mark maintains an active complex commercial litigation practice in the North Carolina Business Court, federal district courts, and agency boards, handling contract, non-compete, and business-tort disputes; defending companies and their officers against fraud and unfair-trade-practices claims; and litigating intellectual property and trademark matters in federal court and before the Patent and Trademark Trial and Appeal Boards.
Before joining Ward and Smith, Mark practiced at a large international law firm, where he handled complex commercial and appellate matters for public-company clients. He began his career as a Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, working on appellate and dispositive motion-practice for the District. He then served as a law clerk for the Honorable M. Hannah Lauck on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and for the Honorable Loren L. AliKhan on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
- J.D., cum laude, Georgetown University Law Center, 2020
- B.A., summa cum laude, Texas A&M University, 2017
- North Carolina, 2025
- Washington, District of Columbia, 2020
- United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2022
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2023
- United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2024
- United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina, 2025
The best thing about Ward and Smith is…As many of my colleagues have also said: the people. Ward and Smith’s culture of collaboration and teamwork is truly one of a kind. Our coffee machine is a close second.
Where I’d most like to live and why: Right here in the Triangle! While I am originally from Texas, I am delighted to now call this area home. Once my wife and I decided to leave the District of Columbia where we’d been living previously, the choice of where to go next was easy—the nature, the Southern hospitality, and the people drew us right to Raleigh.
One surprising thing people don’t know about me is…I was in a rock band in high school. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), any and all recordings of us have been lost to time.
When I am not practicing law, I enjoy…Going for long runs on one of the many trails in the area, taking walks with my wife, and spending time with our two cats, Ferdinand and Fitzwilliam.
Representative Experience
Appellate
- Represented a public-sector employer in a federal appeal over the extent to which certain “overtime gap time” claims are cognizable under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- Served as appellate counsel to a religious organization before the Supreme Court of North Carolina in a case involving questions of ecclesiastical abstention and church autonomy.
- Represented the plaintiff in a Supreme Court of North Carolina appeal arising from a wrongful-death product-liability action against a major automobile manufacturer that implicated significant questions of North Carolina discovery procedure.
- Briefed a breach-of-contract and lien-enforcement appeal in the North Carolina Court of Appeals on behalf of a construction company, which involved veil-piercing claims against a group of corporate defendants.
- Secured affirmance in the North Carolina Court of Appeals of the denial of a motion to dismiss a legal-malpractice claim on behalf of a homebuilder.
- Challenged the denial of class certification in the Seventh Circuit in a consumer-fraud action, arguing that the district court misapplied Supreme Court precedent in rejecting the plaintiffs’ expert damages analysis.
- Served as appellate counsel to a major pharmaceutical company in a federal appeal from a False Claims Act judgment.
- Represented an oil-well equipment manufacturer in a federal antitrust appeal.
Complex Commercial and Business Litigation
- Defended a spirits company in a trademark cancellation proceeding before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
- Represented a hospitality-industry logistics company in a federal breach-of-contract and back-solicitation lawsuit.
- Handled dispositive briefing in a complex, multi-defendant commercial arbitration.
- Frequently advises trial teams on evidentiary rulings, jury instructions, and issue preservation in commercial, statutory, and intellectual-property disputes with significant appellate exposure.
Amicus Curiae Experience
- Co-authored an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the Federal Circuit Bar Association addressing the appellate-filing deadline for certain federal employees.
- Co-authored an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on behalf of a coalition of state Farm Bureau federations and public-interest legal foundations in a Trails Act takings appeal, addressing the scope of compensable property rights burdened by federal rails-to-trails easements.
Articles + Insights
