Mark Barnes

Mark S. Barnes has practiced law with Bugbee & Conkle, LLP since 2001. Before joining Bugbee & Conkle, Mark practiced with another private law firm and the Ohio Attorney Generals Office. Marks practice encompasses workers compensation defense, administrative and court litigation, labor and employment law and litigation, and general civil matters. Marks administrative practice primarily involves representing employers before the Industrial Commission of Ohio and the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (including its self-insuring employers evaluation board (SIEEB) and self-insured review panel), where he has won numerous administrative hearings in a variety of disability and compensation issues involving injured workers and compliance matters for self-insured employers. In recent years, Mark has concentrated his practice in workers compensation trials and has successfully defended employers in such trials in many of Ohios common pleas courts, including Lucas County, Wood County, Defiance County, Hancock County, Allen County, Erie County, and Richland County. In addition, Mark has argued and won cases in the Sixth District Courts of Appeals in Toledo, the Third District Court of Appeals in Lima, the Tenth District Court of Appeals in Columbus, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Mark frequently lectures throughout Ohio for various educational institutes and at seminars presented by bar associations and employer groups regarding matters of workers compensation, trial practice, and legal ethics. Mark also teaches trial practice as an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo School of Law. Mark attended the University of Virginia, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric and Communication Studies in 1986. After graduating from college, Mark worked for several Fortune 500 companies as an account representative in the Washington D. C. area. In1994, Mark received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland. Mark was admitted to practice law in Ohio in 1995. In 2001, the Ohio Supreme Court appointed Mark to its Board of Bar Examiners, a committee of lawyers and judges which sets policy for and prepares the Ohio bar examination. Mark served on the Board of Bar Examiners through 2006. Since moving to Ohio, Mark has been active in the Toledo and Ohio State Bar Associations. Mark has resided in the Toledo area since 1994. He has been married since 1994 and has three adult children. Outside his law practice, Mark enjoys art, golf, bowling, and physical fitness. For many years, Mark participated in a local 5k run to raise money for arthritis. Because of his fundraising efforts, the Arthritis Foundation named its annual fundraising award in Marks honor.