Mark A. Grannis

Mark Grannis brings to his mediation practice a wealth of practical experience in government and private practice.  He serves as the Managing Partner of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, the firm he co-founded in 1998, where he handles a wide variety of litigation, regulatory, and appellate matters for his clients.  Since 2013, he has also been offering his services as a mediator, out of the conviction that private mediation, focused on the parties’ needs and informed by the parties’ experiences, can achieve a faster, less expensive, and more satisfactory result than courts and administrative agencies can in the vast majority of cases.  He serves as a court-appointed mediator in the D.C. Superior Court’s Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Program, where he mediates several cases per month.

In over 25 years of practice, Mark has handled an impressive variety of civil cases at both the trial and appellate levels, including commercial disputes, civil rights and privacy claims, constitutional litigation, election contests, product liability claims, antitrust issues, and probate matters.  These cases have been spread across a large number of federal, state, and territorial courts.   Mark also has extensive experience with telecommunications and technology regulation, both domestically and internationally. 

Mark is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, and California.  He is a member of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Before founding Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis, Mark worked at well-respected firms in Los Angeles and Washington.  He also spent two years working at the FCC where he helped to create the FCC International Bureau and to consolidate all the regulations governing international and satellite communications.   He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Government and Economics.  He also graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.  Following law school, Mr. Grannis clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Grannis has earned an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.  He has been recognized in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, and in the field of litigation he has been recognized in Washington, DC and Baltimore's Top-Rated Lawyers  and Super Lawyers magazine.

A seasoned professional with a wealth of practical experience not just as a mediator but as an advocate and counselor, in government and private practice.

Admitted to practice in D.C., Maryland, New York, and California
    
     Member, Association for Conflict Resolution, Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution, ADR Section of the Maryland State Bar Association
     Member, Federal Communications Bar Association and International Association of Privacy Professionals
     Married with two children; avid reader of history, philosophy, and economics 

Education

 
University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  J.D. cum laude, 1988.

        
Activities and Honors: 

        
        Michigan Law Review.              Associate Editor 1986-1987;

                                                            Note Editor 1987-1988;

        
        Dean's Award (for “extraordinary commitment, versatility, and effort on the Michigan Law Review”);

        Helen L. Deroy Memorial Award (for the year’s best student contribution to the Michigan Law Review);

        Scholarly Writing Award  (conferred by the faculty for “scholarly works of superior quality, not originally prepared for publication”).

Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.  A.B., cum laude, in Economics and Government, 1985.

Activities: 

        
       The Georgetown Chimes:  President and Director, 1984-1985; 

        WROX/WGTB-AM:  Disc Jockey and Evening News anchor;

        Economics Tutor:  Tutored privately and at the Center for Minority Studies;

        Intramural athletics.

Publications:

                              
Reporters Aren’t Above the Law, U.S. News & World Report (online), May 15, 2013 (“Debate Club” feature solicited by the editors regarding reporter’s shield legislation).

                                
Less We Can:  The Case for Less Government, More Liberty, More Prosperity, and More Security.  Chevy Chase, Maryland:  Thoroughfare Books, 2012.

                                
Gerrymandering the News, Baltimore Sun, October 19, 2011 (op-ed piece regarding the way gerrymandering narrows and reduces open discussion of public policy).

                                
Justice and the Press, Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2008 (op-ed piece regarding a proposed reporter’s shield law).

                           
A Paulian Revolution, Washington Times, July 1, 2008 (review of Revolution:  A Manifesto, by Ron Paul).

                                
Life’s Vexing Question, Washington Times, June 17, 2007 (review of The Meaning of Life, by Terry Eagleton).

                                
Prosecutor Revisits D.C. Trial in Vivid Legal Thriller, Washington Times, March 4, 2007 (review of Relentless Pursuit, by Kevin Flynn).

                                
Note, Safeguarding the Litigant's Constitutional Right to a Fair and Impartial Forum:  A Due Process Approach to Improprieties Arising from Judicial Campaign Contributions from Lawyers, 86 Mich. L. Rev. 382 (1987).

 Book Notice, Michael Kent Curtis, No State Shall Abridge:  The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights, 85 Mich. L. Rev. 1188 (1987).