Marlon Bates has practiced real estate and business law, including both transactional work and litigation, since graduating from law school in 1986. He has been a partner at the firm since 1991 and has twice served as the firm's managing partner. He represents a wide variety of clients including banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, loan servicing companies, title insurance companies, property managers, developers, landlords, real estate brokers and many other businesses. The largest segment of Marlon's practice concentrates on foreclosures and creditor bankruptcy law. He has handled thousands of foreclosures and bankruptcies for clients such as JP Morgan Chase Bank, Mountain America Federal Credit Union, Chartway Federal Credit Union, and KeyBank, N.A. Marlon has been honored by LPS Default Solutions as one of its top attorneys for excellence in both foreclosures and bankruptcies. He is regularly selected by his peers as one of Utah's top creditor's rights attorneys in Utah Business Magazine's listing of Utah's legal elite, and is an "AV" rated attorney, the highest rating according to his peers in the legal community, as determined by Martindale-Hubbell, the premier legal listing service in the United States. Marlon is approved counsel by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He has a well-trained team of paralegals and associates who assist him in doing this work quickly and inexpensively. Marlon also has a great deal of experience in litigation. He has tried cases before state and federal courts, and has handled appeals before the Utah Court of Appeals and the Utah Supreme Court. He served as a Small Claims Court judge for seven years and has taught continuing legal education courses on real estate litigation and foreclosure. Marlon earned an Associates of Arts Degree (highest honors) from Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho in 1981. He then received his Bachelors Degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in 1983. In 1986, he received his Juris Doctor Degree from the National Law Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was a member of the Moot Court Honors Board and the Consumer Protection Reporting Service.
