Mark was admitted as a Solicitor in 1981 and worked in a busy High Street firm of Solicitors until 1998. As part of his training, he spent three months in the firm’s costs department drafting bills. He became a partner in the firm and head of the firm’s Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Department.

He became a District Judge in 1998 and sat in the County Court and High Court in Manchester. He was appointed a Regional Costs Judge and regularly assessed complicated and detailed Bills of Costs either on paper or in Detailed Assessments. He was nominated a Specialist District Judge in the fields of Clinical Negligence, Industrial Disease and Catastrophic Personal Injury. He was appointed a Recorder in 2005 and sat in both the Criminal and Civil jurisdictions.

In 2010 he was appointed a Senior Circuit Judge and Designated Civil Judge for Leeds and North Yorkshire. By 2012 he had expanded his area to include Bradford and West Yorkshire and was responsible for managing the judiciary in ten courts. He dealt with virtually all the costs appeals from District Judges in his area and was also asked to deal with High Court appeals on costs by the Presiding Judge because of his specialist knowledge in the field of costs.

He regularly heard high-value personal injury and clinical negligence claims and was responsible for management of all High Court appeals on the North-Eastern Circuit.

Mark also had section 9 authorisation to sit as a High Court Judge in the King’s Bench Division, the Business and Property Court and the Administrative Court. His reputation on the bench was as a courteous and efficient Judge who understood the commercial realities of business clients and was often able to broker negotiated settlements on the first morning of the trial.

Mark was also responsible for training other Judges and taught Judges of the Business and Property Court on the Specialist Judges’ course from 2016 – 2022. He was asked to and has often given lectures to the legal profession on costs issues.

He retired as a Judge on 31st March 2024 and has since trained as Mediator with the London School of Mediation on a course recognised by the International Mediation Institute. He is happy to accept instructions as a Mediator on either a facilitative or evaluative basis on any type of civil litigation or court procedure including costs.