Indiana attorney Jonathan Mack, a member and vice chair of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Council of Trustees and executive committee member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors, has been selected by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel for its “Nation's Top Attorneys” recognition.
This award is earned by only 1 percent of all practicing attorneys in the United States. Selection follows a rigorous, multistage selection process. Candidates must be nominated and then are vetted by association researchers based on public profiles, client reviews and courts records, firm profile and reputation, years of practice, education and training, trial experience, case outcomes, peer endorsements, professional awards and memberships, leadership in legal organizations, and community involvement.
If judged to be worthy based on these criteria, nominees are reviewed again by a panel of attorneys and then by a judicial review board that includes a group of former judges. As a successful candidate, Mack is now recognized nationally as a member of “The Nation's Top One Percent.”
In Pennsylvania, Mack has been selected for the past five consecutive years by Pennsylvania Super Lawyers magazine for inclusion in its Super Lawyers list. Super Lawyers is a rating service of attorneys from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. It is a distinction bestowed on only 5 percent of the state's practicing attorneys each year.
The Super Lawyers selection process has several phases and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations, and a review of the candidates' work and background by a blue-ribbon panel. Recipients are judged on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, including honors and awards, special licenses and certifications, position with a law firm, community service, and scholarly lectures and writings.
Mack is an owner and partner in the Indiana-based law firm of Marcus & Mack, PC. He has been an attorney since 1983, and for the past two decades his practice has been dedicated to the legal representation of injured people from more than 25 counties in western and central Pennsylvania.
He was admitted to practice in Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Courts of Pennsylvania and United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, in 1983. He is a longtime member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Indiana County Bar Association (since 1983).
As a member of the Indiana County Bar Association, Mack has volunteered his time to serve with the Indiana High School moot court competition program, designed to help high school students develop stronger public speaking and presentation skills. He also serves on the Indiana County Bar Association Charities Committee, which annually distributes up to $10,000 to local service agencies and programs. Programs assisted by this outreach include Indiana County Community Action Program, the Center for Family Life, the Boy Scouts, Association for Retarded Citizens, Aging Services, the Alice Paul House, and the Salvation Army. He is chair of the Indiana Bar Association's Scholarship Committee, which annually distributes between $2,500 and $5,000 for area high school students attending law school.
Mack is also a longtime member (since 1997) of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association) and is a past member of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. He also served on the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and was elected president of this 500-plus member organization.
He formerly served as a panel member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission. This leadership organization helps to ensure that citizens of Pennsylvania can make informed choices about judge candidates.
In 2012, Mack was selected as the Indiana County Male Civic Leader of the Year. In addition to his service to IUP and to the State System of Higher Education, his community involvement has included serving as an elected member of the Indiana School Board from 1999 to 2005 (serving as president from 2003 to 2005) and as a member of the board of directors of Seeds of Faith Christian Academy.
Since 1985, he has been a trustee and currently serves as president of the J. S. Mack Foundation, spearheading a $250,000 playground renovation project and a $2 million renovation of the 50-year-old community pool. He formerly served on the leadership board of the Indiana Experiment, a Christian interdenominational ministry designed to provide spiritual resources to business, professional, and working men and to area churches. He is an elder board member of the Summit Church.
He also is a former member of the board of directors of the Indiana County Salvation Army and is an active volunteer with that organization and with many other community nonprofit groups.
Mack is a 1983 graduate of the University of Toledo School of Law and a 1980 graduate of Dickinson College.
He and his wife, Kathleen, are the parents of two children, Connor and Katie.