Biography: Mark Palley
EDUCATION Mark graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz in 1981 with honors in his major (sociology). After one year at Hastings School of Law, Mark transferred to U.C.L.A. School of Law. Mark externed with Ninth Circuit Judge Warren E. Ferguson in Santa Ana. He also worked as a research assistant to Professor William Forbath on an article on the history of labor injunctions. He graduated in the top ten of his class (Order of the Coif) in 1985.
PROFESSIONAL Mark worked for one year at the Los Angeles law firm of Tuttle & Taylor (which later merged into Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe). In 1997, he accepted a one-year clerkship with Judge Charles E. Wiggins (deceased) of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He then worked as a litigator at Steinhart & Falconer (which later merged into Piper Rudnick) in San Francisco, where he worked under the tutelage of the firm's employment and real estate litigators. He joined Ken Richardson's firm in June 1992 and was thrilled to become one of Marion's Inn's founding partners in 1996.
COMMUNITY SERVICE Throughout his career, Mark has provided pro bono assistance to the needy through groups such as the San Francisco Lawyers Committee for Urban Affairs and the Alameda County Bar Association. He has for several years served as a Judge Pro Tem of the small claims department of the Alameda County Superior Court. In 1999 and 2000, Mark worked as an adjunct Professor of Health Law at the University of San Francisco, College of Professional Studies. He has also served as an instructor in the program on Discovery and Disclosure of Confidential Records in California. After years of annual treks to Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite, in 2001 Mark became a member of the Board of Directors of Restore Hetch Hetchy, a non-profit charitable organization that is dedicated to the restoration of Hetch Hetchy. He now is the Secretary of that organization. Mark also participates in youth soccer and baseball programs in El Cerrito and Berkeley.
PRACTICE AREAS Since he began practicing in 1985 Mark has handled a variety of civil cases at both the trial and appellate level. He has broad experience in landlord-tenant (commercial and residential), insurance, health care, collection, bankruptcy, real estate and employment litigation and advice.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS In addition to the California bar, Mark is a member of the bars of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California. He is a member of the Labor and Employment sections of the American Bar Association and of the California Bar, of the ABA's Section of Dispute Resolution, and of the Alameda County Bar Association.
LANGUAGES Mark is conversationally at ease in Spanish. He went to a Mexican high school for two years, and lived in Mexico between college and law school.
Email: mp@marionsinn.com
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