Mark was born in Joliet, Illinois October 16, 1954, has resided in the Commonwealth of Virginia since 1956 and in Virginia Beach since 1963. He graduated from the University of Virginia with high distinction in 1977 and continued his education by earning his jurist doctorate at the Marshall Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary where he was a member of the Marshall Wythe Law Review. He received his law degree in 1980. He commenced practice in Virginia Beach with the law firm of Pickett, Spain & Lyle and continued with that firm until 1995 when he joined Christie and Kantor. Mark is currently a member of the Family Law and Criminal Law sections of the Virginia State Bar, the Family Law section of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Virginia Association of Criminal Defense lawyers and the Virginia Beach Bar Association. His practice concentrates primarily in the areas of family law including separation, divorce, custody, child and spousal support, equitable distribution (including all retirement issues and business valuation issues) and criminal and traffic law.
Mark has been appointed for many years to the office of Commissioner in Chancery for the Circuit Court for the City of Virginia Beach. As a Commissioner in Chancery he conducts judicial fact-finding hearings on important equitable issues and renders recommendations to the court.
He has lectured a number of times for the Virginia State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education regarding defense of DUI and other serious traffic offenses and most recently in 2011 lectured on Evidence for Family Lawyers (Electronic Surveillance, Tape Recordings, Spyware and Unauthorized Access or Interception of Computer Data). In the area of family law, Mark has been named as a Superlawyer for 2008, 2010-2012 and 2014-2015; a “Top Attorney in Hampton Roads” for several years; a “Top Attorney in Virginia” in 2012; and has been awarded an AV rating by Martindale-Hubble, their highest possible rating in Legal Ability and Ethics. All of these prestigious recognitions are determined by his peers in the legal community.
