Mark T. Baker

Shareholder

Tel: (505) 247-4800
Fax: (505) 243-6458
mbaker@peiferlaw.com
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Legal Assistant: Debbie Johnson
djohnson@peiferlaw.com

Mark Baker handles trials and appeals in complex cases. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, a listing based on a lawyer survey, in the categories of Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Commercial Litigation, and in Southwest Super Lawyers. Mark has served as Chair of the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the District of New Mexico since 2010 and currently serves as Vice Chair on the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission. He has also testified as an expert on the New Mexico Civil Rights Act in both houses of the Legislature during the 2020 legislative session.

Mark joined the firm after serving as an Assistant United States Attorney. During his time as a federal prosecutor, he had primary responsibility for prosecuting all criminal civil rights cases in New Mexico and was lead counsel in jury trials involving a range of violent felonies that occurred on reservations and Pueblos within the district. He has argued and briefed civil and criminal cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the New Mexico Supreme Court, and the New Mexico Court of Appeals.  Since 2008, he regularly has served as appointed counsel for indigent criminal defendants appealing convictions from throughout the Tenth Circuit.  

Mark regularly teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law. In Spring 2021, he co-taught Civil Rights Litigation, a new course he developed with Judge Linda Vanzi (retired). He has also taught Evidence & Trial Practice, and Advanced Evidence & Trial Practice going back to 2012, and he will teach Federal Jurisdiction for the Fall 2021 semester.

Mark began his career as a law clerk to United States District Judge Bruce D. Black. He then was an associate with Morrison & Foerster LLP, in Denver, Colorado, and associate and later partner with Long, Pound & Komer, P.A. in his hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Mark served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review and published a note in that journal in the field of federal Indian law.

Areas of Practice

Wrongful Death
Commercial Litigation
General Civil Litigation
Criminal Law
Civil Rights

Education

University of Northern Colorado, B.S., 1999
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2002

Admitted

2003, New Mexico; Colorado (inactive)
U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico
U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

Bar Association Memberships

Albuquerque Bar Association
State Bar of New Mexico
New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Tenth Circuit Historical Society

Biography

Vice Chair, New Mexico Civil Rights Commission
Chair, Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the District of New Mexico, 2010 - present
New Mexico Member, Tenth Circuit Criminal Justice Act Standing Committee, 2017 - present
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Justice Act Panel, 2016 - present
Listed, Best Lawyers in America
Listed, Southwest Super Lawyers
President, First Judicial District Bar Association, 2010
Editorial Board, Virginia Law Review
Note, The Hollow Promise of Tribal Power to Control the Flow of Alcohol Into Indian Country, 88 Va. L. Rev. 685 (2002)

Reported Cases

United States v. Sterling Islands, Inc., 2019 WL 2176311 (D.N.M. May 20, 2019)
Saylor Family Trust, LLC v. Bernalillo County Assessor, 2018 WL 7048128 (N.M. Ct. App. Nov. 5, 2018)
United States v. Mirabal, 876 F.3d 1029 (10th Cir. 2017)
McClendon v. City of Albuquerque, 2016 WL 9777175 (D.N.M. June 27, 2016)
Zircore, LLC v. Straumann Mfg., Inc., 2016 WL 6093482 (E.D. Tex. Oct. 18, 2016)
Romero v. United States, 658 Fed. App'x 376 (10th Cir. 2016)
United States v. Jim, 786 F.3d 802 (10th Cir. 2015)
United States v. Yazzie, 55 Fed. App'x 667 (10th Cir. 2014)
United States v. Frazier, 2013 WL 499245 (D.N.M. Feb. 4, 2013)
United States v. Pablo, 696 F.3d 1280 (10th Cir. 2012)
United States v. Cruz, 680 F.3d 1261 (10th Cir. 2012)
Republican Party of New Mexico v. New Mexico Taxation & Rev. Dep't., 2012 NMSC 026, 286 P.3d 853
Pub. Employees Ret. Ass'n of New Mexico v. Clearlend Sec., 2012 WL 2574819 (D.N.M. June 29, 2012)
United States v. Tsosie, 790 F.Supp. 2d 1099 (D.N.M. 2011)
San Juan Agricultural Water Users Assoc. v. KNME-TV, 2011 NMSC 011, 257 P.3d 884 Gerald v. Locksley, 785 F.Supp. 2d 1074 (D.N.M. 2011)
Charley v. Johnson, 2010-NMSC-024, 23 P.3d 775
United States v. Rivas-Macias, 537 F.3d 1271 (10th Cir. 2009)
Isengard v. N.M. Pub. Educ. Dep't. Div. of Voc. Rehab., 708 F.Supp. 2d 1190 (D.N.M. 2009)
Bonadeo v. Luan, 2009 WL 1324119 (April 30, 2009)
Trs. of the Southwest Multi-Craft Health & Wellfare Trust Fund v. IAP Servs., Inc., 2008 WL 5573072 (Aug. 28, 2008)
Caruso v. Zenon, 2005 WL 5957979 (D. Colo. Oct. 18, 2005)
Caruso v. Zenon, 2005 WL 5957978 (D. Colo. July 25, 2005)