R. Mark McCareins is a Clinical Professor of Business Law in the Strategy Department where he teaches courses on Antitrust  and Competition,  Business Law and Non-Profit Governance and Organization. Mark is also Co-Director of the JD/MBA program at Kellogg. Mark received a Student Impact Award for his teaching of Business Law in the fall quarter of 2016 and served as the Co-Chair of the Kellogg Vertical Merger Conference in January, 2019.

While Mark has been instructing at Kellogg for about thirty  years, he also practiced law as a senior partner in the international law firm of Winston and Strawn LLP for thirty-three years, retiring effective February 1, 2014. At Winston, Mark was co-chair of the firm's global competition practice and served in a number of management positions within the firm and the litigation department. Mark's trial practice concentrated on antitrust, intellectual property and unfair competition issues. He tried cases and supervised commercial litigation for clients in nearly forty federal district and appellate courts. These clients were diverse and ranged from pharmaceutical (Abbott Labs) to consumer products (Tropicana Beverages). Through 2014, Mark was ranked as one of the leading antitrust and commercial litigation lawyers in Illinois, the United States and globally in such publications as SuperLawyers, Legal 500, Chambers Guide to Leading Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. Mark is a member of both the Illinois and California bars. Mark currently serves as the General Counsel of North America's premier metals trade association, the Metals Service Center Institute (www.msci.org). A recognized national expert in antitrust and competition matters, Mark has been quoted in a variety of publications  including Fortune, Law360, Bloomberg, The Business Insider,  The Hill, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, The Washington Times,  and The New York Times.

Mark has authored or edited approximately forty articles or books on antitrust, competition and intellectual property matters. He served in many leadership positions in the antitrust section of the American Bar Association, most recently ( January 2021) being re-appointed to the ABA Antitrust Section Leadership as a Liaison from the ABA Intellectual Property Section.  Mark also was appointed a co-chair of the ABA Business Law  Corporate Counsel committee for 2021.  He also serves on the ABA Antitrust Section Pricing Conduct Committee Advisory Board ( as of 2021).   He formerly served as  Chair  of the Antitrust Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association. In addition, Mark is also a former Chair of the Antitrust Committee of the Chicago Bar Association, where he moderated panels on such topics as the corporate criminal leniency program and the use of experts in antitrust cases. He received a Service Award from the Chicago Bar Association in June, 2017 for his role as chair of the Antitrust Law committee. He  is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mark also serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). 

Mark is also very active in community affairs having served as President and Chairman of the Board of Lawrence Hall Youth Services, a Chicago based child welfare agency, through June, 2017 at which time Mark was elected as a Life Trustee. He also sits on the Board of Catholic Charities. Mark is also involved in a number of alumni groups at Washington University including sitting on the Chicago Regional Cabinet and the Law School's national alumni council. Mark has received distinguished alumnus awards from both his undergraduate alma mater Northwestern University as well as Washington University where he served as Editor in Chief of the law school's Law Review. He also received the President's Volunteer Service Award from the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation in 2008.

Antitrust, unfair competition, intellectual property and commercial litigation

• JD, 1981, Washington University in St. Louis
• BA, 1978, Northwestern University

• Named a Life Trustee of Lawrence Hall
• Service Award, Chicago Bar Association
• Named to Corporate Goverance Committee of the Corporate Counsel Section of the American Bar Association, 2017-2018
• Elected as Fellow, Advisory Board of the Litigation Counsel of America
• Kellogg Student Impact, Fall quarter, 2016
• SuperLawyers of Illinois, SuperLawyers
• Best Lawyers in America, Chambers
• Leading Lawyers, Leading Lawyers Network

• Chicago Bar Association Antitrust Committee Chair, 2016-
• Section Chair, Antitrust Section Newsletter of the Illinois State Bar Association, 2014-

Business and Anti-trust Law

Law and the Corporate Manager (BLAWX-440-0)

Regulation of Competitive Strategies (BLAW-437-0)
Firms (whether they are brick and mortar or web-based) employ any number of strategies to enhance market share or generate sales. However, for many of those strategies, there is a regulatory component as to their implementation or execution. For example, with respect to pricing decision-making, there are various competition regulations, (e.g. price discrimination, below cost sales, resale price maintenance and/or MAP) at either the state, federal or global level that need to be followed in order to devise a compliant pricing strategy. This course will explore the propriety of at least ten (10) different competitive strategies (e.g. mergers, distribution channels, patent fencing, exclusionary conduct, cooperative efforts with competitors, etc.). One week of the course will be devoted to criminal enforcement of these rules. The content will be delivered through lecture, class discussion, case study, and weekly assignments ( there is no group work in the class). In addition, there will be periodic "pop up" discussions on current competition topics, (e.g. how does antitrust apply to "Big Tech"). Ten (10) percent of the final grade is determined by the weekly assignments, while a closed-book essay exam will determine the remainder of the final grade. BL437 is the only course that serves to provide a regulatory and compliance road-map for the competitive strategies discussed in other courses.

Business Law (BLAW-435-I)
INSEAD STUDENTS ONLY This course is a survey of the basic and fundamental legal concepts that managers and entrepreneurs will be exposed to in public, private and non-profit entities. It is not a surrogate for a law school course (as such the course is not open to law or JD/MBA students) ; it does not delve into subjects of legal procedure (e.g. rules of evidence and rules of civil or criminal procedure). Rather, it covers a variety of legal topics of greatest interest to managers. For example, the course includes instruction on torts, a subject normally covered in a full semester law school course, by focusing on the basics of torts (e.g. negligence, professional negligence (malpractice), and product liability) in a meaningful way so that the student is armed with the ability to identify and analyze tort-related issues going forward. The ten week quarter also includes two topics (contracts and corporations) that are each spread over two weeks of instruction. One week of the quarter is geared to agency law, a subject of great importance in business since under certain circumstances, an employer is automatically liable for the acts of its agents occurring within the scope of their employment. While the majority of class time is spent on civil legal matters (e.g. money damages, equitable relief in the form of injunctions), one week is devoted to a review of criminal law, specifically those crimes that touch U.S. business on a frequent basis (e.g. the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)). Also, due to frequently-expressed interest by students, one week is designed to provide a solid overview of antitrust and intellectual property issues. (Students seeking a deeper dive into these topics should consider taking BLAW 437 upon completion of BLAW 435.)

Business Law (BLAW-435-0)
This course is a survey of the legal concepts that managers and entrepreneurs will be exposed to in public, private, and non-profit enterprises. It is neither a surrogate for a law school course ( as such the course is not open to law or JD/MBA students) nor does it delve into procedural subjects, (e.g. the rules of civil procedure or evidence). Rather, the students will learn the fundamentals of torts (negligence and intentional), agency, product liability, antitrust, contracts, intellectual property, corporate governance and white collar criminal law (e.g. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). The course content is delivered through lectures, class discussion, study of the case book, and weekly assignments. While 10% of the final grade is determined by the weekly assignments, the remaining portion of the final grade will be assessed in a three-hour, closed book, final essay exam. (There is no formal group work in this class). Other than KPPI 952 and BL 437, there is no other course that delves into the issues that will be covered in BL 435.