Mark Armitage has worked in the field of professional responsibility and lawyer regulation for thirty years. He currently serves in the American Bar Association’s (ABA) House of Delegates, is on the Editorial Board for the ABA/Bloomberg Law Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct, and is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL). He is a past president of the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), an association of state and federal lawyer regulatory agencies in the United States and other countries, and served as Chair of the NOBC Committee on the Future of Lawyer Regulation. Mark has also been active on several committees of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, including the Standing Committee on Ethics & Professional Responsibility, and as a member of teams reviewing state lawyer regulatory systems and consulting with the Justices of the relevant supreme courts. He has written articles and chapters in the field of lawyer ethics, including Attorney Fee Agreements in Michigan, Chapter 1: Types of Fee Agreements (ICLE 6th ed 2023).
Mark served as the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, taught Professional Responsibility at Wayne State University and University of Detroit Mercy law schools, and has given presentations at numerous conferences and continuing legal education seminars. He served as a question drafter for the Michigan Supreme Court’s Board of Law Examiners and the National Conference of Bar Examiners. He also served as a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Task Force on the 21st Century Practice of Law, as well as numerous ethics-related State Bar committees and workgroups, and is a member of the Regulatory and Practice Reform Committee of the Michigan Supreme Court’s Justice For All Commission.
Mark is a graduate of Albion College and of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Before working in the field of attorney regulation, he clerked for Judge John H. Shepherd of the Michigan Court of Appeals and engaged in private practice. He is a fellow of the Michigan and American Bar Foundations.
Mark steadfastly believes that the American legal system is how abstract ideals such as “freedom,” “equality,” “justice,” and “opportunity” are translated into reality. Access to the legal system is, therefore, critical not only to seek justice in a particular case, but also to promote the rule of law and strengthen the legal institutions essential for a constitutional democracy to thrive. As counsel to the firm, he is inspired by the dedication and expertise of Nyman Turkish lawyers and staff and works to assist them as they deliver superior services to our clients and work to advance the law.
Mark has also served on the boards of Preservation Detroit, the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit, and Common Cause in Michigan.
