Mark W. Muenster, Lawyer

Mark Muenster attended four years of college at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut graduating with a B.A. in 1976. He studied law at Boston University School of Law, in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1979. Mark has devoted most of his legal career to criminal defense work.

Mark is admitted to practice law in Washington, Massachusetts, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Mark is a member of the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and served as WACDL's president in 1997-98. He has also served on WACDL's Board of Governors, and as Chair of the Amicus Curiae Committee, which submits briefs to the Washington Supreme Court on the behalf of the organization in significant criminal law cases. He is currently a member of the WACDL's Legislative Committee, which advocates in the Legislature for reforms in the criminal law. He has received both a President's Award and Certificates of Appreciation for service to the organization.

Mark is also a member of the Washington State Trial Lawyer's Association, an organization of lawyers who represent people in personal injury litigation. He is a member of the Clark County Bar Association, and has been active in its District Court Bench Bar Committee. He has been named by Washington Law & Politics magazine as a "Super Lawyer" in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.

Mark has been a speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars on topics in criminal defense for WACDL and for the Washington State Office of Public Defense. He keeps current on the cutting edge issues of criminal law, and teaches others to do the same.

Mr. Muenster has served as counsel on appeal or as amicus curiae (Friend of the Court) in over 60 reported decisions in the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court of Washington since 1984. He was appellant's lawyer in State v. Gunwall, which established the principle in Washington of independent state constitutional review in search and seizure cases.