About Mark W.
Mark W. Worthington trained first as an engineer and then as a lawyer. He earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester in 1980, took his juris doctor at Northeastern University School of Law in 1991, and later completed an LL.M. at Boston University School of Law in 2004. The sequence shows a measured turn toward legal practice and further specialization through graduate study.
He began practicing under his own name in 1992 as Mark W. Worthington, Counsellor at Law. Over the next decade and a half his career moved between private practice and firm roles. He became a partner at Smith Worthington, LLC in 2007 and served as of counsel to Oppenheim & Cole, LLC in 2010. Records list him as senior counsel at Special Needs Law Group of Massachusetts, PC in both 2013 and again in 2018, indicating an ongoing relationship with that firm.
Worthington has kept one foot in the academy while practicing. He joined Western New England University School of Law early on as an adjunct for the LL.M. program in elder law and estate planning in 2005, and later served as professor and director of that graduate program in 2016. He returned as an adjunct professor in 2018 for the same LL.M. program. He also taught as an adjunct at Northeastern University School of Law in 2012. More recently, beginning in 2019, he has worked as a technical editor for Leimberg Information Services, Inc., a role that reflects sustained engagement with the technical material underlying estate and tax planning.
Professional associations have been a consistent theme in Worthington’s career. He has been a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Massachusetts chapter of NAELA since 1995. He has held chapter roles including treasurer, president-elect and president, and has served on the board of directors. He has been active on committee work over many years—public policy, program, litigation and tax steering among them. The National Elder Law Foundation certified him as an Elder Law Attorney (CELA) in 2004, and he participated in the Foundation’s CELA exam grading in 2009.
His published work and teaching reflect interests in elder law, estate planning and special needs planning, and his professional roles emphasize technical and tax aspects of those fields. He currently serves as senior counsel at the Special Needs Law Group of Massachusetts, PC, where his practice concentrates on elder law, estate planning, and special needs issues.
