Mark Whitford

Mark co-chairs Barclay Damon’s Insurance Coverage & Regulation Practice Area. He advises insurers across the country and provides litigation support on complex insurance matters, with a focus on commercial and excess liability, construction defect, property, directors and officers, and personal lines policies. His approach emphasizes candid guidance at the outset and direct paths to resolving clients’ concerns.

A former attorney with the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Mark has briefed, argued and succeeded on numerous commercial and insurance-related appeals in New York state and federal courts. He also regularly volunteers to advise self-represented litigants in those courts.

Mark serves as managing director of Barclay Damon’s Rochester office and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

• Representing a national insurer in various breach of contract and extracontractual claims pending in California and Washington under municipality-liability policies.
• Secured summary judgment in favor of insurers in multiple declaratory judgment actions. Successfully defended those dismissals on appeal to state and federal appeal courts for claims involving various first- and third-party claims such as environmental losses, agent liability, and large property losses.
• Defended and pursued interests of insurers with respect to priorities of coverage among multiple insurers for complex losses, including claims related to additional insured coverage and contractual and common-law indemnification.
• Successfully defended defendants in multiple complex construction-related accidents, including defense of claims under Labor Law § 240, with verdicts taken through trial.
• Assisted with the successful defense of an appeal concerning a limitation on damages for a foreign corporation based on NY choice-of-law principles, including appeals before the Appellate Division, Fourth Department and the Court of Appeals.
• Successfully moved to dismiss extracontractual allegations against insurers in state and federal actions in first- and third-party claims, including claims under General Business Law § 349, consequential damages, and punitive damages.
• Successfully defended defendants in multiple complex construction-related accidents, including defending claims under Labor Law § 240, with verdicts taken through trial.
• Successfully prosecuted appeals to the Appellate Division, Fourth Department and secured summary judgment in favor of an insurance company where the client did not owe any duty to the injured plaintiff.
• Secured a dismissal of claims against an insurer by the contractor who performed services for the insured based upon the lack of any agreement between the insurer and contractor, which was affirmed by the Appellate Division, Fourth Department.

• Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, Counsel
• New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, Appellate Court Attorney

• University of Connecticut School of Law, JD, With Honors; Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, Managing Editor
• University at Buffalo, BA, Summa Cum Laude

Admitted to Practice

• New York

Court Admissions

• US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
• US District Court for the Northern District of New York
• US District Court for the Southern District of New York
• US District Court for the Western District of New York

• The Best Lawyers in America®: Insurance Law, 2021–2027; Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2021–2027
• Selected to Super Lawyers Upstate New York: Insurance Coverage, 2025 and 2026
• The Daily Record and Rochester Business Journal, Power 50 Law, 2023–2026
• The Daily Record and Rochester Business Journal, Legal Excellence Awards: Leaders in Law, 2022
• The Daily Record, Excellence in Law Awards: Up & Coming Attorney, 2013