Cobb Law Group

For over 25 years, Mark has been practicing construction law throughout the State of Georgia. He remains active in many professional organizations, and he speaks and lectures extensively on Georgia’s Mechanics and Materialmen’s Law, payment bonds (Miller Act and Little Miller Act claims), construction contracting and risk-allocation & damage mitigation. In addition, he publishes on similar topics regularly. In fact, Mark recently finished co-editing a 50-State Lien Law publication for the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry and has contributed to several other books and industry publications. Born in Pensacola, Mark credits his personal success with the Christian values instilled by his parents. He was fortunate to learn from great teachers and mentors the value of a hard-day’s work and honesty, and he always enjoyed school. In college, Mark majored in English literature, but he had a double-minor in political science and economics where he was a member of several honor societies including the prestigious Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) as well as the English and the Political Science honor societies. While in college, Mark managed a 25-person staff of writers and editors for the weekly student newspaper. Under Mark’s leadership, the newspaper earned the highest honor from the Georgia College Press Association while teaching Mark the importance of deadlines, business budgeting & revenues, and integrity. After college, Mark matriculated at the top-tier Washington and Lee University School of Law. Here, he excelled in his coursework and served as a faculty research assistant working on a Freedom on Information Act project. His classmates elected him to serve all three years on the 13-member Executive Committee which oversaw the honor code for the entire university. Here, Mark’s concepts on honesty and integrity were tested and strengthened in the most remarkable ways. In addition to his impressive education, Mark’s jobs experience has continued to mold his talents. His earliest jobs–working as a runner for Boling, Rice & Bettis and his tenure at the Florida District Attorney’s Office–taught him to be punctual and to always return telephone calls (now, emails and texts!) During the summers between law school, Mark held several jobs but remembers his time at Mosely, Taylor and Joyner in Jacksonville, Florida most fondly. Here, he worked on complex litigation matters involving maritime and contract law. After law school, Mark moved to Atlanta to work for a small, boutique law firm. Although he performed varying research and ligation tasks for the various partners, Mark quickly excelled in the area of Georgia Construction Law working with contract drafting, construction collections, and construction litigation. In fact, his first client helped solidify his unique concentration in materialmen liens and payment bond law. This same client asked Mark to develop a procedure for sending Notices to Owners, preparing liens, and other tools useful for the construction industry which grew into a full-litany of construction-related legal services. After making partner at his firm, Mark opened his own firm. In the beginning, clients learned about Mark exclusively through word-of-mouth. In 2007, Mark and his wife took a sabbatical to France. Upon his return, Mark enthusiastically approached the state-wide practice of construction law with new zeal and determination. He moved the files into the clouds, improved the communications network, opened a second office, hired additional attorneys, and began marketing his firm to all types of construction professionals including project owners and developers, design professionals, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. In addition to many years of successful construction litigation, Mark is also a Registered Mediator and a Registered Arbitrator. In this position, Mark assists construction project participants with resolution by applying his decades of experience and problem-solving skills. Mark chose to become a Registered Mediator and Arbitrator after decades of representing clients in construction arbitration and mediation proceedings. Mark is married and has two children, and two English setters. He is active at All Saints Episcopal Church where he recently completed his term as a Vestryman. Mark was recently the chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Vashti Center which operates a $4M annual budget for children with psychological and psychiatric issues; he is the treasure and immediate past-president of the local Washington and Lee Alumni Chapter, treasurer of the Southern Regional Technical College Foundation, and treasurer of the Thomasville Antique Show Foundation. In addition to his personal and professional interests, Mark enjoys tennis, wingshooting, and fly-fishing.