Mark Allen After graduating from the University of Missouri with a journalism degree in 1976, Mark Allen moved to Washington. During the day Mark worked on Capitol Hill as Press Secretary and Legislative Director for U.S. Rep. Melvin Price (D- Illinois) and attended Georgetown University’s Law School at night. He went on to clerk for Judge Robert L. Kunzig of the U.S. Court of Claims.
After graduating from Georgetown Law School with honors in 1980, Mark Allen passed the bar exam and began working at a small D.C. law firm, representing clients on a wide array of issues ranging from public
broadcasting, to music rights, to public lands management.
In 1983, Mark Allen began a general law practice in Old Town Alexandria and soon developed a specialty in real estate transactions and related areas of real estate law, including historic preservation. Since 1983, Mark has personally conducted more than 32,000 real estate closings from his offices in Old Town. It is during these years that Mark learned how to listen and work with both buyers and sellers to reach reasonable compromises. For most of his 25 years in Old Town, Mark has run his small business, serviced clients, and met a payroll in good times and in bad.
Mark has also committed himself to helping the greater Alexandria area. He is a former director of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and member of the Board of Advisors of Virginia Commerce Bank. He is currently the vice chairman of the Alexandria Board of Zoning Appeals.
While Mark has focused much of his time building a small business,
raising a young family, and volunteering in the community, he has also been active in local politics. As someone who has supported both Democrats and Republicans, Mark believes that he will have the independence to go to Richmond and work solely for the best interests of our district. For example, in 2005 Democratic Governor Mark Warner appointed Mark a Trustee to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, where he has been working diligently to preserve Virginia’s natural resources through land conservation.
Mark and his wife, Elisabeth, have two daughters, Sarah and Caroline, and Nancy – their beloved black lab.
