Mark Hartman

“If you would have told high school me that I’d end up being a trial lawyer fighting the government every day, high school Mark would have laughed at you.”

Unlike many lawyers, Mark came to the work of being a criminal defense lawyer not because of family tradition or some sort of interest in courtroom drama, but rather because he felt called to this work.

“For me, being a criminal defense lawyer is never just about any one case or charge – it’s about the person whose future depends on what happens in that case. It’s about his children. It’s about her career. It’s about their reputation in the community. The practice of law is all about the client. And the way I stay client-centered is by listening to my clients and being responsive.”

For Mark, every case – from the client charged with a first-time minor misdemeanor all the way to the client whose entire life hangs in the balance – represents an opportunity to push back against baked-in inequities that plague the criminal legal system. And when it’s your future on the line, Mark treats the situation with the urgency that moment deserves.

“I tell clients when I first meet them that I will go to great lengths to help them. And while that includes obvious things like being prepared for court, it also means not screening phone calls when my client is trying to contact me. It means returning emails in a timely fashion. And it means doing what it takes to make my clients feel seen and heard throughout the process.”

Prior to joining Bath & Edmonds, Mark spent several years as a public defender, including 18 months as the Chief Public Defender in the Western Regional Public Defender’s office in Garden City, Kansas. As a public defender there, and in Wichita before that, Mark represented people who couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer but who nonetheless deserved to have an advocate who would give them a fighting chance. Through that work, Mark educated himself on the underlying biology that informs human behavior. Mark has worked to ensure that his practice is a trauma-informed and biologically fluent practice.

“A huge part of my work is helping judges, prosecutors, and jurors understand that the people I represent have their own stories and that there are critically important parts of that story that take place years before someone is ever accused of a crime.”

Being at Bath & Edmonds allows Mark to offer his clients a competitive advantage because of the gifted people he works with every day.

“Robb Edmonds’ relationships with court personnel and opposing counsel are as strong as any lawyer in Johnson County, period. Tom and Tricia, separately, have track records at trial that I’d put up against anybody—and when they try cases together, they are an amazing team. Robin Fowler has invaluable experience and accomplishments in federal criminal courts. And there isn’t a single defense lawyer in Johnson County with stronger ties to local law enforcement than Vanessa Riebli. Each of us bring something different to the table that helps the rest of us better represent our clients.”