U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson attended La Salle University, graduating magna cum laude and outstanding senior in his major in 1985. After working in the computer industry, he received his J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif in 1991.
Upon graduation from Duke, Judge Coulson went to work as an associate at Miles & Stockbridge in Baltimore, Maryland, ultimately becoming a principal of the Firm in 2000. He handled a wide variety of civil cases, including the trial of a significant number of cases involving catastrophic injury. In 2010, he was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, whose membership is limited to no more than 1% of the lawyers in a state. In 2011 he was invited to join the American Board of Trial Advocates. He was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge in the US District Court for the District of Maryland in 2014.
As part of his Magistrate Judge criminal duties, Judge Coulson is one of four Magistrate Judges who preside over initial felony proceedings in the Federal Courthouse in Baltimore. His routine duties in that capacity include initial appearances, arraignments and detention proceedings for indiviuals newly charged with one or more violations of federal law.
His civil duties include conducting civil settlement conferences in a wide variety of cases, handling discovery disputes, and managing his own docket of cases on consent.
Judge Coulson has written and lectured extensively in the area of e-discovery, and has been part of this Court’s joint committee for a proposed protocol on the discovery of electronically stored information since its inception in 2006. He currently serves on the Court’s Disciplinary and Admissions Committee, Bench-Bar Committee, and Rules Committee.