Mark E. Plotkin

Mark E. Plotkin is a partner at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C., where he co-founded and co-chairs the firm’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) practice. He has been with the firm since 1987. He advises clients on national security reviews before CFIUS, foreign ownership, control, or influence matters before the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, Team Telecom reviews, and newly emerging national security regimes.

Mr. Plotkin has advised on transactions with an estimated value of more than $500 billion across sectors including aerospace and defense, semiconductors, critical infrastructure, financial services, telecommunications, energy, life sciences, and technology. He has served as CFIUS counsel in many of the most consequential transactions of the past 25 years, including Qualcomm’s defense against Broadcom’s proposed $117 billion acquisition; Peugeot’s $48 billion combination with Fiat Chrysler to form Stellantis; AerCap’s $30 billion acquisition of GE Capital Aviation Services; Deutsche Börse’s proposed $9.5 billion acquisition of the New York Stock Exchange; Thomson Reuters’ $20 billion sale of a controlling interest in its Financial & Risk business to a Blackstone-led consortium; CNOOC’s $15.1 billion acquisition of Nexen; Micro Focus’s $8.8 billion acquisition of Hewlett Packard’s software business; Singapore Technologies Telemedia’s seminal acquisition of Global Crossing; Lenovo’s $2.3 billion acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business; and IBM’s $1.75 billion sale of its personal computer business to Lenovo.

Chambers USA has ranked Mr. Plotkin in Band 1 for CFIUS Experts since the category’s inception. The American Lawyer has on three separate occasions recognized him as “Dealmaker of the Year,” most recently in 2026 for advising U. S. Steel in its $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon Steel. The American Lawyer also named him its 2025 “Best Mentor — Law Firm.”

Mr. Plotkin is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and previously served as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard College. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations and has testified before Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and the Uniform Law Commission. He served as co-editor of Regulation of Foreign Banks & Affiliates in the United States (6th ed.) and as editor-in-chief of E-Commerce Law & Business.

From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Plotkin advised the Kingdom of Bhutan on its historic transition to a constitutional monarchy, working with His Majesty the King, the Royal Court of Justice, and the Royal Education Council. His pro bono work has included representing indigent persons and nonprofit organizations. This work earned him recognition as the 2016 Charles F.C. Ruff Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year.

Mr. Plotkin received his B.A. in history, summa cum laude and with departmental honors, from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Student Advisers and the Administrative Board, as well as Comments Editor of the Harvard Journal on Legislation.