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Mark W. Foster

Partner

Office
Washington, DC
Tel.
202.778.1804
Fax.
202.822.8106
Others
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Named 2017’s Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America in the professional malpractice category, Mark W. Foster is one of the first lawyers who law firms and other lawyers turn to for advice on professional responsibility and ethics matters. 

Mark also advises law firm managing partners, general counsels, and administrators on business-of-law issues, including ethics compliance programs, conflicts of interest, trust accounting, lateral recruiting and hiring, and lawyer departures.

Mark has dealt extensively with ethics problems confronted by lawyers in large practices and small as a litigator, counselor, and expert witness. He is also experienced in complex issues such as alliances between law firms and non-lawyers, partnerships with non-lawyers, the rights and responsibilities of partners to each other, and the migration of partners and practices between law firms. Mark has testified as an expert witness on ethics and related matters on more than 20 occasions in both state and federal cases.

Mark has served as a mediator and an arbitrator, typically in law firm disputes and dissolutions. His practice also includes commercial transactions, such as business formation and dissolution, financing, and related issues. He has litigated to verdict more than 30 civil and criminal cases and has decades of litigation experience in civil and criminal jury and non-jury trials. He has been a voting delegate to most of the District of Columbia judicial conferences, as well as to a number of federal judicial conferences.

Mark has taught at The George Washington University Law School, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and for the continuing legal education program of the District of Columbia Bar. His courses have included trial technique, conflicts of interest, trust accounting, ethics, and advocacy.

Before entering private practice, Mark worked for the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia as a staff attorney for three years and as the chief of its Felony Trial Division for one year. He formed Moore & Foster, P.C., in 1976 and was a partner there until the firm merged with Zuckerman Spaeder in 1983.

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., 1971

Yale University, B.A., 1965

Bar admissions
  • District of Columbia
  • Maryland
  • Connecticut
Court admissions
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Claims Court
  • U.S. Tax Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
  • Court of Appeals of Connecticut
  • Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia
  • Court of Appeals of Maryland
Government service
  • Public Defender
    • Chief of Felony Trial Division 
    • District of Columbia
Professional leadership
  • Adjunct Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School
  • Former Member and Vice Chair, Legal Ethics Committee, District of Columbia Bar (1993-1999)
  • Former Member, Committee to Study Revisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct, District of Columbia Bar (1992-1999)
  • Former Member, Disciplinary System Review Committee, District of Columbia Bar (1992-1993)
  • Former Chair, Board on Professional Responsibility, District of Columbia Court of Appeals (1984-1988)
  • Former Member and Vice Chair, Board on Professional Responsibility, District of Columbia Court of Appeals (1982–1983)
  • Former Member, Hearing Committee #6, Board on Professional Responsibility, District of Columbia Court of Appeals (1980-1982)
Community involvement
  • Board of Trustees, Studio Theatre
Representative matters
  • Obtained summary judgment on all counts in malpractice suit in federal court for an AmLaw 100 firm in 2009.
  • Obtained a dismissal of a $30 million malpractice lawsuit filed by a major defense contractor prior to any discovery and only five months after the complaint was filed.
  • Represented newly established law firm in negotiating novel financing arrangements and professional cooperation agreement with large accounting firm.
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Mark Foster_bio

Mark W. Foster

Partner

Office
Washington, DC
Tel.
202.778.1804
Fax.
202.822.8106
Others
Send an Email
vCard