Mark has practiced law in Seattle since 1987. He initially worked in the litigation and construction law departments of Ferguson & Burdell, which at that time had about 45 lawyers. Since 1990, Mark has worked in two small law partnerships and as a sole practitioner. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree the University of Washington, and his Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern College of Law, Lewis & Clark College, in Portland, Oregon. In addition to over two decades of legal experience, Mark has taken substantial additional training in mediation, negotiation, interdisciplinary team work, Collaborative Law, and other relevant topics.

Mark focuses his practice on Collaborative Divorce, divorce and family law mediation, and consultation, and also maintains a general mediation practice. He is also active as a trainer and lecturer in the disciplines of Collaborative Divorce, interest-based negotiation, mediation, legal processes, and legal ethics.

Honors

• 2005 Attorney of the Year award, Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section (Ken Weber Attorney of the Year)
• “Super Lawyer” Washington Law & Politics magazine, every year since 2007
• Rated among the “Top 25” family law attorneys by Washington Law & Politics magazine (Winter 2009 issue)
• Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers*
• Highest possible rating, Avvo.

• Multiple Collaborative Law basic and advanced trainings
• Collaborative Law Interdisciplinary Team Training
• Multiple Mediation and dispute resolution basic and advanced trainings, including trainings from the Harvard Law School Negotiation Insight Initiative, and workshops with Kenneth Cloke, Joan Goldsmith, Chip Rose and others.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (Collaborative Law and Mediation) Activities

• Arbitrator with the King County Superior Court Mandatory Arbitration program (1992-2008)
• Volunteer Family Law Settlement Conference Master, King County (2000-2009)
• Board Member and Secretary, King County Collaborative Law
• Co-founder, Downtown Seattle Collaborative Law practice group
• Collaborative Law Committee member, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
• Founding Member, Mediators Beyond Borders
• Co-founder, Seattle Collaborative Law Learning & Training Center

Articles (selected)

• “Offering Families a Better Divorce,” King County Bar Bulletin (April 2009)
• “Collaborative Law: Questions and Answers,” King County Bar Bulletin (part 1 May 2008; part 2 July 2008)
• “Family Law Court Records,” Ch. 25, Wash. St. Bar Assn. Family Law Deskbook (2006)
• “Community Property Interests in Separate Property Businesses,” 40 Gonzaga L. Rev. 205-233 (2005)
• “Lawrence and Nunn Reject the 'Friendly Parent' Concept,” Domestic Violence Report, vol. 6, no. 6, p. 81, August/September 2001 (co-authored with Dore , M.K.)
• “Washington State Rejects 'Friendly Parent' Presumption in Child Custody Cases,” Wash. St. Bar News p. 32 (August 2001) (co-authored with Dore, M.K.)
• “The New 'Access to Family Law Court Records Court Rule,” Wash. St. Bar News p. 31 (December 2001)
• “When a Divorced Parent Wants to Move: The Littlefield Controversy,” King County Bar Bulletin (August 1998)
• “Post-Trial Procedures,” Wash. Lawyers Practice Manual (1991)
• “Hazardous Waste and Real Property Transactions,” Wash. St. Bar News p. 11 (October 1986) (co-author)
• Washington Practice: Family and Community Property Law (West Publishing) (contributor)

Elected Offices

• 1997 and 2000:  Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section Executive Committee. 
• 2003:    Chairperson,  Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section.
• 2005:    Secretary/Trustee, King County Bar Association.
• 2006-08:    Trustee, King County Bar Association.
• 2007:    Director, King County Collaborative Law
• 2008:    Secretary, King County Collaborative Law
• 2010:    President, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers

 Appointments and Committees

• 1996:  Washington State Bar Association Mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution Rule Task Force.
• 1998:   Contributing editor to the WSBA Family Law Deskbook.
• 1999:   Member, WSBA Amicus Brief Committee for two years. Reappointed for another one-year term in 2003.
• 2000:  Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Guy appointed Mr. Weiss to serve on an ad hoc committee to solve issues relating to privacy of litigants in family law cases, which led to the adoption of General Rule 22, “Access to Family Law Records.”
• 2001:  Mr. Weiss participated on a court committee concerning “portability” of judges between court levels. He also became a member of the Committee for Cost-Effective Justice, which spearheaded the adoption by the voters of a Constitutional amendment to make more efficient use of judges.
• 2002:   Appointed by the Washington Courts to an ad hoc committee to help formulate an electronic filing court rule. The rule drafted by the committee was adopted by the Supreme Court as General Rule 30.
• 2002:  Representative of the King County Bar Association to the King County Superior Court's Electronic Court Records Executive Sponsor Committee.
• 2003:  King County Superior Court workgroup to draft the King County Local Family Law Rules. 
• 2003:  Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge appointed Mr. Weiss to a workgroup to make recommendations for revisions to court rules GR 15 and 22 to help balance privacy interests in court procedures and file access.
• 2003-04: Liaison for King County Bar Association to King County Superior Court Local Rules Committee 
• 2005:  Chaired a subcommittee of the Judiciary and the Courts Committee of the King County Bar Association to draft pattern family law interrogatories.
• 2005:  Contributing editor and chapter author for WSBA Family Law Deskbook.
• 2006:  Chaired Legislative Task Force, King County Bar Association.
• 2007:  Chaired ad hoc bar committee for review of King County Local Family Law Rules, King County Superior Court.
• 2007:  Member, Unified Family Court Workgroup, Washington Commission on Children in Foster Care.
• 2009: Nominations Committee, King County Bar Association
• Mr. Weiss is a former chairperson of the King County Bar Association Family Law Section Local Rules Committee. He has also been active in the Legislation Committee of the KCBA Family Law Section. For several years, he was a mentor for new attorneys through the KCBA Mentor program.

Professional Memberships

King County Bar Association
Washington State Bar Association
Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section
American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
King County Collaborative Law
Collaborative Professionals of Washington
Seattle Collaborative Family Law

Presentations Given and Trainings Conducted

J. Mark Weiss has for many years been a presenter and trainer/instructor for lawyers and other professionals, focusing primarily on divorce:

1993:

• “Drafting Family Law Documents” (King County Bar Association) (co-chair and presenter)
• “Military Dissolution Issues” (King County Bar Association) (co-chair)

1995:

• “Domestic Relations Drafting Gems” (Washington State Bar Association) (panelist)
• “Personal Reputations, Choses in Action, Security Interests, and Other Unusual Property Issues,” Nuts & Bolts of Money in Dissolution (King County Bar Association) (chairperson and presenter)
• “Preserving the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg: Divorcing Owners without Breaking the Business,” Family Law Institute (King County Bar Association)

1996:

• Family Law Skills Institute (Washington State Bar Association) (instructor)
• “An Introduction to Family Law” (King County Public Defenders Association)

1997:

• Family Law Skills Institute (Washington State Bar Association) (instructor)

1998:

• “An Introduction to Parenting Plans,” Family Law Skills Institute, (Washington State Bar Association)
• “An Introduction to Parenting Plans,” Best of CLE program, (Washington State Bar Association)

1999:

• Family Law Skills Institute, (Washington State Bar Association) (instructor)
• “Litigation Techniques Involving Confidential Records” (Washington Law Institute) (panelist)
• “Real Property Law”, Family Law Section Annual Meeting, (Washington State Bar Association)
• “Enforcing and Collecting Child Support Obligations” (Washington State Bar Association) (chair)

2000:

• Family Law Skills Institute (Washington State Bar Association) (instructor)
• “Litigation Techniques Involving Confidential Records” (Washington Law Institute) (panelist)

2001:

• “Privacy in the New Millennium” (Government Lawyers Bar Association).

2002:

• “Financial Records and Privacy,” Family Law Skills Institute (Washington State Bar Association)
• “Privacy - GR 22,” Family Law Section Annual Meeting & Seminar (Washington State Bar Association)

2004:

• “Community Interests in Separate Property Businesses” (Family Law Council of Community Property States, Madison, Wisconsin) (co-presenter).
• “Considerations in Awarding Closely Held Businesses in the Context of Divorce in the State of Washington,” Family Law Section Annual Meeting & Seminar (Washington State Bar Association) (co-presenter)
• “Privacy and GR 31,” King County Bench-Bar Conference (King County Bar Association) (presenter and panelist)
• “GR 31: The Impacts of the New Court Records Rule” (panelist) (Bench-Bar-Press Committee of Washington)
• “In the Children's Best Interests” (King County Bar Association) (co-chair)

2005:

• “Community and Separate Property Characterization Issues,” Formidable Factors: The Financial Aspects of Divorce (co-presenter) (Washington State Bar Association)
• “GR 15, 22, and 31 Privacy Issues,” Formidable Factors: The Financial Aspects of Divorce (Washington State Bar Association)
• “Changes in Court Rules Impacting the Family Law Practitioner,” Family Law Section Annual Meeting (Washington State Bar Association)
• “Speed Topics: Special Interest Issues within Estate Planning and Family Law,” (moderator), When Death and Divorce Collide: Cross-Over Issues in Estate Planning and Family Law (Washington State Bar Association)

2006:

• “Amendments to General Rules Affecting Family Law Practice,” Family Law Section Annual Meeting & Seminar  (Washington State Bar Association)
• “Speed Topics: Special Interest Issues within Estate Planning and Family Law,” (moderator), When Death and Divorce Collide: Cross-Over Issues in Estate Planning and Family Law (Washington State Bar Association)

2007:

• “Family Law, a Boutique Practice,” (chair) (Seattle) (AAML)
• “Recent Amendments to GR 22,” AAML annual seminar (Seattle) (AAML)
• Introductory Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Bremerton) (Felbeck, Hohlbein & Shaub)
• Alternative Dispute Resolution in Family Law (chair) (Seattle) (Washington State Bar Association)

2008:

• “Ethics and Collaborative Law” (co-presenter) (King County Bar Association)
• Introductory Collaborative Law Trainings (2 separate trainings) co-trainer (Seattle) (Felbeck, Hohlbein & Shaub)
• “The Collaborative Team Approach in Handing Parenting Plan Disputes” (Seattle) (AAML)
• Ethics and Collaborative Law (guest lecturer) (Seattle University School of Law)
• Collaborative Law screening (Everett, WA) (Snohomish County Legal Aid)
• Collaborative Model or Traditional Advocacy (co-presenter) (Vancouver, WA) (Washington State Bar Association)
• Collaborative Law and Ethics (Gig Harbor, WA) (Collaborative Professionals of Washington)
• “Informal Discovery,” Discovery in Family Law (Seattle) (Washington State Bar Association)

2009:

• Introductory Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Seattle) (Felbeck, Hohlbein & Shaub)
• The Use of High-End Goals in the Collaborative Divorce Process (Seattle) (King County Collaborative Law)
• Intermediate Interdisciplinary Team Training co-trainer (Portland, OR) (Applied Divorce Solutions)
• Body Language, Facial Expressions, and Emotion in Effective Collaborative Divorce Negotiations co-trainer (Seattle) (Downtown Seattle Collaborative Law and King County Collaborative Law)
• Intermediate-Advanced Collaborative Law Training (Seattle) (Weiss & Felbeck)
• Basic Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Lynnwood, Washington) (Seattle Collaborative Law Training & Learning Center)
• Collaborative Divorce (guest co-lecturer) (Seattle University School of Law)
• Ethics as Core to the Collaborative Paradigm (Minneapolis, MN) (International Academy of Collaborative Professionals)
• Basic Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Boise, ID) (Idaho State Bar Family Law Section; Seattle Collaborative Law Training & Learning Center)

2010:

• Intermediate Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Bellingham, Washington) (Bellingham Collaborative Law professionals)
• Basic Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Seattle, Washington) (Seattle Collaborative Law Training & Learning Center)
• Basic Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Kelowna, British Columbia) (Okanagan Collaborative Family Law Group)
• Intermediate Collaborative Law Training co-trainer (Seattle, Washington) (Seattle Collaborative Law Training & Learning Center)

* The Supreme Court of Washington does not recognize certification of specialties in the practice of law and the certificate, award, or recognition listed is not a requirement to practice law in the state of Washington.