Piatt, James A.

Mark Pierce is both a top-notch trial lawyer and an FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor. He brings a wealth of experience to Slack & Davis’ clients in aviation-related legal matters. He has been board certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1988 and has received Martindale-Hubbell’s AV^® rating based on peer reviews for legal ability and integrity. He also was selected for inclusion on the 2011 Super Lawyers list.

Mr. Pierce graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1979 and became associated with the Dallas law firm of Passman & Jones, focusing on complex business and commercial litigation. In 1985, he moved his practice to West Texas, where he became known not only as an outstanding advocate in personal injury and wrongful death cases, but also as a tenacious and creative trial and appellate attorney for consumers and victims of deceptive business practices.

He has written papers on topics such as trial skills and effective communication. His article, “The Seven Communication Secrets of Trial Lawyers,” was published in The Toastmaster magazine in September 2003.

His aviation-related papers include “Transactions Gone Bad: Litigation Between Buyers and Sellers of Aircraft” and “The Pilot-Controller Relationship: Assessing Comparative Responsibility in General Aviation Crashes.”

Mr. Pierce currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association. He also is newsletter editor for the Aviation Law Section of the American Association for Justice (formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America). He is a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), for which he has served on the Board of Directors; Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association; Austin Bar Association and El Paso Bar Association. He served as president of the El Paso Trial Lawyers Association for two terms, from 1994 to 1996.

He has been active in all facets of the legal community. He was appointed to the State Bar’s Committee on Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (2002-2004), and he chaired the Consumer Law Committee of the El Paso Bar Association in 2005-2006. He served as an attorney member for the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s Legal Assistant Personal Injury Trial Law Exam Commission from 1997 to 2001, and chair of the Board of Directors of the Consumers Group of El Paso, Inc. from 1997 to 1999. He was appointed as a Special Prosecutor for the 34th Judicial District of Texas in 2005-2006. He is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

With commercial pilot certification in single-engine and multi-engine airplanes, an instrument rating and an active flight instructor’s license, Mr. Pierce has a depth of understanding of aviation issues that gives him unique insight on the legal responsibilities of manufacturers, pilots, air traffic controllers, owners, operators, maintenance facilities and others in the aviation realm.