Founding Partner

After almost 40 years of practice, Mark retired in September 2019.  Mark’s legacy as the founding partner lives on through Lewis, Passons & Darnell, P.C.’s tireless commitment to excellence and lending a much-needed helping hand to families dealing with divorce and other challenges.

Mark Lewis’ father was a Methodist minister who believed that every day and every person was a precious gift and that it was his job to make the world a better place for us all. Like his father, Mark chose a helping profession – for him, the law – because it can be a powerful, problem-solving engine. His watchword is simple: “solve problems, don’t create expensive lawsuits.”

Mark spent his childhood chopping cotton on his grandfather’s farm so he truly understands the value of hard work and money. He worked his way through college at East Texas State University, graduating with Honors in 1971, and through law school at SMU, graduating in 1980.

A practicing attorney for almost thirty-five years, Mark is actively involved in his profession. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, a member and past Director of the Denton County Bar Association and was both a member and Director of the Alliance Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.

Mark is deeply committed to helping his fellow lawyers. He currently serves on the Family Law Advisory Committee. He served on the State Bar’s Law Office Management Committee in 2002 – 2003, the State Bar’s Deceased Solo Practice Task Group in 2003, and in 1999 – 2000 he was the Chair of the first-ever Fee Dispute Committee of the Denton County Bar Association.

Throughout his career, Mark has been committed to achieving excellence as a Family Lawyer. He has been Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1997 and his peers have recognized his expertise because he’s been AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 1997 and has been selected as a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters in Family Law nine times in the last ten years (2005, 2007 – 2014).

Mark believes family disputes are best settled out of court, if possible, but he has the in-court trial skills necessary to achieve optimal results for his clients if settlement cannot be reached. Mark has been a mediator since 1983 when he became one of the first lawyers in Texas to be certified to mediate. In 1986 he was named the Outstanding Mediator of the Year for the Dallas County Juvenile Department for his mediation between youthful juvenile offenders and their victims to reach restitution plans in one of Texas’ first such programs. And in 2000, recognizing the importance and vast potential of the collaborative approach to families in crisis, Mark became one of Denton County’s first collaborative divorce lawyers when he founded the Denton County Collaborative Professionals.

Mark and his wife Linda are active members of First Presbyterian Church, Denton. They support the Denton Christian Preschool and Our Daily Bread at Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church in Denton, and Mark is a Stephen Minister through the Stephen Ministry group at Saint Andrew, where he provides a listening ear to those in need.

Mark shares many life experiences with his clients. He is a parent. He has been divorced. He lost one of his four children to death. He is a proud grandfather to his three grandkids and he even has a great-granddaughter! Mark understands the incredible value of good parenting. He knows first-hand the stresses and strains on a divorcing parent, and how lonely, scary and strange it can feel to be single after years of marriage.

Mark was put here to help people in need. In his words “I am here to help those who are getting or have been divorced. To walk for a time with men and women who find themselves on a path they never thought they’d have to walk. My job is to provide an empathetic ear, good advice, wise guidance and competent counsel. And that’s what I try to do, each and every day.”

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