Contact Information:
4520 Main Street, Suite 1100
Kansas City, MO  64111
816/460-2424 (office)
816/531-7545 (fax)
816/456-5044 (mobile)
mjohnson@sonnenschein.com
mpjohnso@ku.edu

Mark has turned his passion for the First Amendment into a paying job, as co-chair of the Communications and Media Practice Group of the Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal law firm, whose Kansas City office Mark opened in 1994. Prior to joining Sonnenschein, Mark was an associate and partner with Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, a Kansas City law firm. He received his B.A. in History from Yale in 1977 and J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1980.

Through his representation of media clients, including national network affiliate television stations, a general circulation newspaper, and individual reporters, Mark regularly handles matters involving current issues in the field of First Amendment law. He is past chair of the Media Law Committee of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in two fields, Public Utility Law and First Amendment Law, and has appeared in every edition of that publication since 1997

He has also been selected by Chambers USA in 2007-2010 as a leading lawyer in labor and employment law in Missouri and Kansas. Mark is a member of Sonnenschein’s 15-member management committee, which oversees the activities of the firm’s 800+ lawyers.

Mark has been teaching at KU since 2007, and he has become a Jayhawk fan (pointing out that KU’s Crimson and Blue colors are directly derived from the universities he attended, so he finds KU’s tireless pursuit of copyright infringers rather ironic). He welcomes visits from students and hopes they will never hesitate to talk to him; the only bad question is the question never asked. For leisure, Mark reads (cultural history, science fiction, and -- yes -- First Amendment law) and plays golf (currently carrying a 4 handicap and a longtime member of the best club in the U.S., Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson).