Mark Anchor Albert

Albert was one of the four lead defense attorneys (out of hundreds of lawyers) for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in over 600 clergy sex abuse cases from 2001 through 2008. In that capacity, Albert advocated for greater transparency and proper disclosure of clergy sex abuse claims involving minors. He was the primary architect of the Archdiocese's landmark Report to the People of God: Clergy Sexual Abuse, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 1930-2003. He has also written on the Roman Catholic Church's teachings on sexual ethics with respect to homosexual unions and gay marriage. Albert played a key role in obtaining over $300 million in defense and indemnity payments from the Archdiocese's liability insurance carriers, using sophisticated coverage analyses involving primary and excess insurance policies going back to the 1950s. He was later appointed the "Settlement Czar" responsible for negotiating, closing, and administering $660 million in settlements of 45 clergy sexual abuse cases in 2006 and 517 clergy sexual abuse cases between 2007 and 2008, helping to compensate victims for the harm they suffered.

In late 1993 and early 1994, Albert and his friends founded Allegro! (now known as Pulse), the young professional's support group of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. They supported the orchestra by raising money at Salons Musicales in private homes and historical venues, in which orchestra musicians performed for guests. In 1997, Albert founded Aria!, a young professionals' support group for the Los Angeles Opera. He and his colleagues sold selected concert series targeted for young professionals, hosted an annual White Tie Summer Opera Ball, and sponsored several opera recitals at private homes, museums, at the Music Center and other architecturally significant venues to engender interest and continuing support for the art and music of opera. Both organizations continue today.

Albert began his legal practice in Los Angeles in 1988. For the first two decades, he held senior positions at a succession of major firms, including Sidley Austin, Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman, and Graham & James (now known as Squire Sanders). In 2008, he founded his own law firm and has since been consistently ranked among the top attorneys in his field. He specializes in representing corporations facing serious liability exposure as well as private clients seeking justice for wrongdoing inflicted by unscrupulous or negligent businesses and individuals. Albert also handles large numbers of pro bono matters. To date, he has recovered over four hundred million dollars in damages for his clients from corporations and their insurance carriers.

Following family tradition, Albert then attended U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, where he was invited to be a member of the California Law Review in 1987, becoming associate editor in 1988. His senior thesis, "Deregulation and the Thrifts: The Case for Dismantling the Current Regulatory Structure", was published by U.C. Berkeley's National Center of Financial Services in 1988. Following his graduation in 1988, Albert was admitted to the California State Bar the same year.

Albert was born in Los Angeles, California, to the famous trial lawyer Merrill K. Albert and the former Caryl Hansen. Introduced to music by his parents at an early age, he sang with the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir (also known as the St. Brendan's Church Choir) with Neil Diamond in the 1973 film Jonathan Livingston Seagull. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in comparative literature (with an emphasis in Romance languages and literature). He subsequently gained fluency in French, Spanish and Portuguese, and became conversant in Italian. He joined the Phi Beta Kappa honour society in his junior year. A member of the Dean's Honor Society every term, Albert graduated in 1984 with High Distinction in General Scholarship, with the University of São Paulo publishing his senior thesis, "Forma e Conteudo em o Sohno de Terra", a literary critical analysis of Álvaro Cardoso Gomez's noted fantasy work. In varsity sports, he became U.C. Berkeley's first-string heavy-weight boxer and rowed on the university's crew team, California Lightweight Crew.

Mark Anchor Albert, KM (born March 13, 1961) is a Los Angeles attorney, philanthropist, impresario and lay Catholic leader. He has played an integral lead role in several landmark legal cases in addition to founding support organizations for various Los Angeles area civic and cultural institutions, including the Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He is the founder of the Queen of Angels Foundation, which in 2011 revived the tradition of an annual procession in honor of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.