Alexander D. Marks

Alex Marks is a partner at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. Alex is a member of the firm's Litigation and Labor and Employment practice groups. He represents major corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and mid-sized and family owned businesses in complex commercial and civil litigation. Alex is also an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, serving as a “Commercial Litigation,” “Consumer Disputes,” and “Labor/Employment” panelist.

Alex’s experience spans both a wide array of industries, including financial services, real estate, insurance, and automotive. He regularly handles disputes in both state and federal court, including breach of contract, deceptive trade practices, trade secret misappropriation, contract and lease disputes, trust contests, business divorce and shareholder disputes, business and other tort claims, statute and ordinance violations, and real estate controversies.

He also focuses his practice on labor and employment cases. Throughout his career, Alex has represented individuals and businesses in discrimination lawsuits and other employment-related contract and tort actions. Alex has litigated dozens of matters involving claims such as race, age, religion, national origin, disability and sex discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliatory discharge, and wage and hour issues. He has also handled discrimination charges before the EEOC, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, the Cook County Commission on Human Rights, and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, along with wage claims before the Illinois Department of Labor. He also regularly litigates claims involving employment restrictive covenant agreements and routinely counsels clients on a variety of employment practices, including employee handbooks.

Alex has first and second chair trial experience in both courts and arbitration hearings, and is a member of the Federal Trial Bar. He has also represented clients on appeal before federal and state courts. He is licensed to practice law in, among other jurisdictions, Illinois and the United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Alex has been named an "Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star" for 2012 to 2019, which recognizes the state's top two percent of up-and-coming attorneys under the age of forty. Through a peer review conducted by Martindale-Hubbell, the leading legal rating service in the United States, Alex received a ranking of AV Preeminent: "possessing the highest level of professional excellence."

Alex also regularly represents indigent clients on a pro bono basis, including securing enrollment rights for a homeless student, obtaining compensation for violation of a prison inmate’s constitutional rights during confinement, and successfully defending a public school student at an expulsion hearing.

Mr. Marks currently serves as the chair of Burke, Warren's Pro Bono committee, and formerly served as chair of its Labor and Employment law practice group.

Mr. Marks received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with high honors, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 2001. He was awarded his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law in May 2004, where he was awarded Rickert awards for excellence in oral advocacy and trial advocacy. During the summer of 2002, Mr. Marks was a legal intern for the Illinois Attorney General's Office, and, prior to joining Burke Warren as an attorney, he was a legal intern at the firm during the summer of 2003.

Representative cases include:

• Mr. Marks has been named an "Illinois Super Lawyers Rising Star," 2012 to 2019, which recognizes the state's top two percent of up-and-coming attorneys under the age of forty.
• Through a peer review conducted by Martindale-Hubbell, the leading legal rating service in the United States, Mr. Marks received a ranking of AV Preeminent: "possessing the highest level of professional excellence." 
• Mr. Marks has been elected as the Decalogue Society's newest Vice President.

• Chicago Lawyer's Committee For Civil Rights Under the Law, Voting Rights Project, Education Equity Project
• Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago's "Lawyers in the Classroom"
• Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Expungement Help Desk to Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Criminal Records Expungement Help Desk
• Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Law Project
• Chicago Bar Foundation, Young Professionals board
• Chicago Bar Association, Young Lawyers section - Remote, In Person, and Hybrid Court Practice Committee
• University of Illinois College of Law Alumni Association Board, Vice President
• University of Illinois Campus Alumni Advisory Board
• Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Board of Directors
• American Arbitration Association, Commercial Litigation, Consumer, Labor/Employment Panel Arbitrator

• Decalogue Society, Anti-Semitism Committee (Co-chair), Executive Committee (Recording Secretary)

• North Suburban Bar Association, Mock Trial Judge 

• Illinois State Bar Association

• LAGBAC

• Cook County Bar Association