Mark Begnaud

Mark excels in the details and nuance of some of the most complicated issues and cases on behalf of clients who are often amongst the most marginalized and forgotten in our society and in our civil justice system. He focuses his practice in the areas of civil rights, personal injury, and appellate litigation.

Mark has a trained eye for investigating and litigating “constitutional torts” under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. These are cases involving misconduct by government actors, including police misconduct cases. His expertise in this area is sought after by other lawyers and national civil rights and human rights organizations. He has served as lead class counsel in two multi-million-dollar class action lawsuits stemming from police misconduct, served as local counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (“MALDEF”), worked with the Southern Center for Human Rights, and been invited to speak on prison law and advocacy at the Northwestern School of Law Prison Law and Advocacy Conference. At this point, Mark has won upwards of fifty civil rights cases involving police misconduct in the state of Georgia – having handled these cases in every federal district court in the State of Georgia and on appeal at the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mark began his career at one of the state’s largest firms, Arnall Golden Gregory, representing prominent institutional clients in large-scale financial transactions. Transitioning to criminal defense, Mark advocated for hundreds of indigent clients both as a public defender with Hall and Dekalb counties and as a statewide criminal appellate lawyer. Mark began focusing his practice in the areas of civil rights, personal injury, and appellate litigation in 2013.

When not in court or the office, Mark is utilizing his green thumb and operating a woodworking studio—displaying many of his creations (and plants) around the office. An Atlanta native, Mark lives in Lake Claire with his wife, daughter, two dogs, one cat, and the occasional foster dog or two.

Hear Mark’s argument at the Eleventh Circuit HERE, where he successfully argued that a Cobb County jailer should not be protected by qualified immunity after he threw an older man across a jail cell.
Read the Georgia Court of Appeals opinion HERE, where Mark successfully had his client’s criminal gang act conviction reversed because the Atlanta Police Department committed a Brady violation, failing to turn over exculpatory evidence.

Main Practice Areas

Civil rights
Personal Injury/Wrongful Death
Appeals

Court Admissions:

All State and Appellate Courts in Georgia

Georgia State and Superior Courts
Georgia Court of Appeals
Supreme Court of Georgia

All Federal Courts in Georgia

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit