Mark is the Founder and Managing Partner of Balian Law LLP. His focus is in the fields of estate planning, estate administration, elder planning and Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts, and estate litigation as well as business and commercial tax planning, litigation and transactions of commercial real estate, leases, acquisitions, mergers, dissolutions, and private business compliance and guidance. His sophisticated and diverse experience working with business and families and educational background enables Mark to assist his clients in multiple often interrelated areas of law while servicing with the care and attention to detail that they deserve, in particular, business succession planning. Mark has negotiated and closed numerous complex business transactions and served as counsel to mid-sized businesses and public corporations in various industries and professions, often working with in-house counsel. His practice also includes succession planning for businesses, conservatorships and guardianships, and the representation of Executors, beneficiaries, corporations and business partners in litigation matters. Mark’s experience prior to Balian Law LLP, includes serving as partner of Wells, Jaworski & Liebman, LLP, chairing the firm’s Tax, Trusts, and Estates Department, and sharing firm management responsibilities alongside Stuart Liebman. Throughout his career, Mark has consistently practiced in the areas of tax, trusts, and estates and business and commercial Law. In addition, he worked for a Bergen County forensic accounting firm engaged in forensic and legal investigative casework in the areas of estate and gift tax, shareholder dissent and oppression, divorce, and damage claims assisting in the mediation of high net worth divorce cases and master of discovery roles, trust accountings, valuation of private practices, lifestyle analyses, gift tax valuations, and operating and trust agreement analyses. Mark also served as law clerk to The Honorable Susan Peikes Gantman of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Mark is a member of the Board of Directors of the Ridgewood YMCA, also serving on the Finance Subcommittee. Mark is a member of the Greater New Jersey Estate Planning Council, the Hudson-Bergen Inn of Transactional Counsel, Bergen County Bar Association, the 200 Club of Bergen County, an organization which supports local public servicemen and women, and a supporter of the Newark Fraternal Order of Police. Mark is a cum laude graduate of Villanova University, receiving a Bachelor of Science in accounting with a concentration in the honors program in 2004. He graduated from the Villanova University School of Law and School of Business in 2007, receiving both his Juris Doctor and Master in Business Administration. After law school, Mr. Balian received his LL.M. (legal master’s degree) in Taxation from Villanova Law in addition to a certificate in estate planning – a proud career Villanovan! Mark has litigated matters at the New Jersey Supreme Court and the Appellate Division level. He is licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania Mark is a Bergen County resident along with his wife, Adriana, and their three children Mark, Viviana, and Damian.

Business and Corporate Succession and Tax Planning Tax, Trusts, and Estates Estate and Business Litigation Commercial Real Estate and Leasing Medicaid and Elder Law Planning Guardianship/Conservatorship Business Acquisition – Banking/Commercial Transactions/Lending General Corporate/Business Counseling and Non Profit Law

B.S. in Accountancy, Villanova University, 2004 J.D., Villanova University, School of Law, 2007 MBA, Villanova University, School of Business, 2007 LL.M. in Taxation, Villanova University, School of Law, 2010 Estate Planning Certification, Villanova University, School of Law

New Jersey, 2008 Pennsylvania, 2008

Greater New Jersey Estate Planning Council Hudson-Bergen Inn of Transactional Counsel 200 Club of Bergen County Bergen County Bar Association American Bar Association New Jersey State Bar Association Ridgewood YMCA, Board of Directors (2018-2025)

Bergen County’s Top Lawyers 2017 Bergen County’s Top Lawyers 2018 Bergen County’s Top Lawyers 2019 Bergen County’s Top Lawyers 2024