Mark Steven Cohen

Mark Cohen is an AV-rated lawyer in Boulder, Colorado, who serves clients in the Denver/Boulder area and throughout Colorado. Mark was selected as a Super Lawyer in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and was selected as one of the best real estate lawyers in Denver.  Mr. Cohen's philosophy is simple - Start Early. Work Hard. Finish.®  Mark has 40 years of experience.

Mr. Cohen has a passion for drafting and reviewing documents, and helping clients resolve disputes arising out of all types of legal documents. He believes the distinction between litigation and transactional work is often artificial. Business litigation and real estate litigation are almost always the result of poor drafting, insufficient investigation, or an incomplete negotiation. He prefers Plain English over "Legalese" and believes the use of Plain English in business and law lowers costs, improves productivity, increases credibility, and reduces misunderstandings. 

Mr. Cohen is also a proven litigator and trial lawyer. In 2012 he won a 4.2 million dollar verdict in a breach of contract case that included nearly two million dollars in punitive damages. His philosophy and experience enable him to facilitate transactions today that are least likely to become lawsuits tomorrow. He is a highly respected business lawyer.

Mr. Cohen grew up in Denver. He earned his BA in economics at Whitman College 1980, then returned to Colorado and received his law degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1983. He earned his Masters in Law (LL.M.) in agricultural and food law from the University of Arkansas in 2014, where he also taught advanced legal writing.  From 1983 to 1987 Mr. Cohen served as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force. He also served two years as a Special Asst. U.S. Attorney in Nebraska. In 1986, he won the American Bar Association's Outstanding Young Military Service Lawyer award.

From 1987-1995 Mr. Cohen practiced law in Nebraska, where he represented an agricultural lender in collection and bankruptcy matters throughout the state. He also successfully represented defendants in several high profile criminal cases. In thirty-seven years as a trial lawyer Mr. Cohen has conducted more than 100 jury trials. He has served as an on-demand military law expert for MSNBC.

Mr. Cohen and his family returned to the Denver area in 1995. He served as a Prosecuting Attorney for the Denver suburb of Westminster for seven years, and served as Interim Municipal Judge for the City of Boulder for eighteen months. He served as Municipal Judge for the Town of Lochbuie for more than ten y ears, portions of which are in Adams County and portions of which are in Weld County. He also served on the Executive Board of the Colorado Municipal League in Denver. He served as an elected member of his town's Board of Trustees and on his town's Board of Zoning Adjustment. He has tremendous experience in all aspects of local government.

Mr. Cohen lived in Nederland, Colorado for more than twenty years, and is well-versed in issues that often arise with mountain real estate, including easements, boundary disputes, and adverse possession.  He has given presentations on easement law to the Colorado Bar Association and at the Rocky Mountain Surveyors Summit.

Because of his diverse background, Mr. Cohen has experience in many areas of the law, but his practices emphasizes commercial law, real estate law, contract law, and related litigation.  

An accomplished writer, Mr. Cohen has authored six articles in the prestigious American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts series, including the primary article on piercing the corporate veil. He wrote several articles published in The Colorado Lawyer and an article on equipment leasing for Rocky Mountain Construction. One of his interests is the use of "Plain English" rather than legal jargon in legal writing. He founded The Plain English Institute, a nonprofit that promotes plain English.

Mr. Cohen served six years on the Board of Editors of The Colorado Lawyer (Chairperson 2012-2013), and now serves as editor of that magazine's contract law column. Mr. Cohen also wrote two mysteries published by Time/Warner. His first mystery, The Fractal Murders, was a Book Sense mystery selection and a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. The sequel, Bluetick Revenge, won widespread praise from well-known authors, including Kinky Friedman, Stephen White, and Margaret Coel.  He won 2nd Prize in the 2004 National Legal Fiction Writing Competition.

Mr. Cohen is a member of the Board of Directors of and a volunteer instructor for DART, Inc., a non-profit that offers training in preventing and responding to workplace violence, and with that background he drafts and reviews workplace violence policies. He holds a black belt in shudokan karate. In 2022, Colorado Governor Jared Polis appointed Mark to the Colorado Combative Sports Commission, formerly the Colorado Boxing Commission.

Mr. Cohen is a witty CLE speaker and prolific writer.  His paper, HOW TO DRAFT A BAD CONTRACT, was praised by Harvard's Steven Pinker as "Simply brilliant."  He speaks frequently on topics that include contract drafting, plain English, easements, and piercing the corporate veil.