Mark C. Palmer is the Chief Counsel of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. He strives to serve judges, attorneys, law students, and the people of Illinois with a dedication to the quality of justice and the rule of law.
As Chief Counsel, Mark uses education and outreach to promote professionalism, civility, and integrity in the Illinois legal and judicial systems to provide more equitable, efficient, and effective service to the public.
He does so by leading and participating in initiatives including a statewide mentoring program, Courthouse Professionalism Trainings, and professionalism-based educational programming for lawyers, judges, and law students.
Before joining the Commission, Mark was in private practice at Evans, Froehlich, Beth & Chamley in Champaign, Ill., where his law practice included litigation and transactional experience primarily focused on commercial litigation, banking law, and municipal law in state and federal trial and appellate courts.
Mark also served on the federal Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants and prisoners in the U.S. Courts.
Mark is a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, the Illinois State Bar Association’s Board of Governors, the Illinois Supreme Court’s E-Business Policy Board, and the Advisory Council of the National Legal Mentoring Consortium. He also serves as Chair of the Public Interest Law Initiative’s (PILI) 6th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee.
Mark is an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers at the University of Illinois Police Training Institute on topics such as the use of force and police liability.
Mark received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.
In his free time, Mark and his wife stay busy raising their twin daughters, strolling the trails at Allerton, and tending to their garden.