Mark A. Criss

In 1972 Mark graduated from Allegheny College (Meadville, PA) where he was an Alden Scholar and a member of Pi Gamma Mu, an international society dedicated to excellence in scholarship in the social sciences and community service. In 1977, Mark graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he was awarded Oral Honors in the school's Moot Court competition. 

​In October of 1977, Mark began his legal career as a staff attorney with Butler Neighborhood Legal Services. In 1980, he joined in the formation of Lope and Criss, a general service law firm based in Zelienople, PA. There, he developed his litigation specialties in family law, including divorce, custody, support and alimony.

​He has also represented seriously injured persons, or their survivors, negligently killed in accidents or by medical malpractice (personal injury). Additionally, he handled hundreds of large and small real estate transactions, involving both private and governmental lenders. Over the years, he has written numerable estate planning documents, including wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, living wills and health care powers of attorney, and handled the estates of his neighbors in Cranberry Township, Seven Fields, Adams Township, Mars, Zelienople, Warrendale, Wexford and Bradford Woods.

Mark was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the County bars of Butler and Allegheny, and the bar of the Federal District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1977.  In 1988, he was admitted to practice before the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Throughout his career, Mark has been actively involved in numerous professional and service organizations. He is a member of the Butler County Bar Association, of which he was honored to serve as President in 1997, and has chaired numerous committees. He has been a Butler County representative to the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates, a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, and the Cranberry Rotary Club. Mark continues to contribute his expertise to the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County by assisting in the drafting of local rules concerning family law cases. Currently Mark does his family law work primarily through the mediation and collaborative practice formats.  He is an active member of several collaborative practice groups, trains other lawyers in collaborative practice and publishes articles relating to the discipline.