Mark C. Palmer serves as Chief Counsel under the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism to facilitate the promotion of professionalism, civility, and integrity among our lawyers and judges in Illinois. Mark supports the legal and judicial systems to better provide equitable, efficient, and effective service to the public through education and outreach initiatives.
Mark collaborates with legal mentoring stakeholders across Illinois and the nation to bring the Court’s professionalism-based mentoring program to new and experience attorneys. He further supports the development and delivery of educational programming to lawyers, judges, and law students, and performs outreach across the state on behalf of the Commission.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mark spent a decade in private practice as a trial attorney primarily focused on commercial litigation, banking law, and municipal law, handling civil and criminal cases at the state and federal trial and appellate courts. Part of his work was serving as a member of the federal Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel of attorneys appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants and prisoners in the U.S. Courts
Mark serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign. Additionally, he has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers in Illinois at the University of Illinois Police Training Institute, lecturing on topics such as use of force and police liability.
Mark received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He is active in numerous bar and civic organizations including on the Board of Governors for the Illinois State Bar Association and as the Chair of the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) 6th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee.