Recently named one of Washington D.C.’s top lawyers and a nationally acclaimed civil rights attorney at the age of 34, Mark A. Dann, ’02, learned early on about the value of a quality education and working to protect the rights of others.

In the 1980s when he was 13, his parents lost their jobs and home in Syracuse, New York during an economic turndown. They debated moving south where the cost of living was cheaper, but then rejected that idea because of the quality of the public school system Dann was attending.

That decision stuck with Dann, stressing for him the importance of a quality education as it also planted the seed for his work on educational civil rights.

Now an Associate at Gebhardt & Associates, LLP in Washington D.C., Dann was named to the 2007 Washington D.C.’s “Top Lawyers” list by Washingtonian magazine, which cited him as among 17 nationally acclaimed civil rights lawyers, in the company of John Payton, Marcia Greenberger, and Wade Henderson.

Providing him with the foundation he needed to pursue a career as a civil rights attorney, he says, was his Seton Hall Law experience. As a student at Seton Hall Law, he made it a point to take advantage of as many opportunities as he could to develop his skills in the public interest arena.

“I picked Seton Hall because I liked its emphasis on practical instruction through Moot Court competitions, journals, judicial clerkships, and clinics,” he says. What also made a difference, he adds, is the accessibility of the faculty.

“I think a lot of the practice of law is a matter of building relationships as anything else, and at Seton Hall the professors are very supportive and encouraging,” he says. “They really helped my professional development.”

At Seton Hall Law, Dann served as President of the Public Interest Network, and helped to coordinate the first annual Public Interest Auction. He was also a founding member of the Seton Hall American Constitution Society Chapter, and participated in the Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board and National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights. Intent on pursuing a career in public interest, he also made sure to tailor his course load accordingly, and to pursue research assistantships collaborating with professors on such issues as predatory lending and employment discrimination.

Following law school, he accepted a fellowship at the national office of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, working on cases challenging school discrimination and segregation, along with the University of Michigan Supreme Court case on admissions policies. Today, his practice areas also include employment discrimination, disability retirement, and public policy.

His advice to law students who want to pursue a career in public interest: “Public interest law is highly competitive because the opportunities are limited, as is the funding, and those spots are reserved for those who truly show a commitment to public interest law from the beginning. Don’t wait until your last year to start building a public interest resume.”

 

Mark A. Dann, '02
Named one of Washington D.C.s Top Lawyers

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