Mark T. Wakenight

President

Mark T. Wakenight graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1988 and returned home to the Chicago area. For the next 12 years, he represented clients in many different areas of law including bankruptcy, criminal defense, human rights, personal injury, property damage, real estate, traffic, license reinstatement, adoption, probate, guardianship, paternity, divorce, etc. When Bartley F. Goldberg, a classmate from the University of Chicago, was looking for a litigator to join his practice, Mark joined Mr. Goldberg in his Lincoln Park Office. The pair later created the Law Offices of Goldberg & Wakenight and thereafter opened an Oak Park Office. It was then that Mark began to refine his thinking about the type of clients he wanted to represent.

Words from Attorney Wakenight Himself

Mark shares his experience in establishing Wakenight & Associates:

By the time I opened Wakenight & Associates, P.C. in Oak Park, it was clear that I was most comfortable representing divorce and family law clients, and that if I wanted to improve as a lawyer, I had to pursue these areas of law wholeheartedly. I could not hope to become a good divorce and family law attorney by representing clients with other types of problems.

As my divorce and family law business grew, I soon had more clients than I could handle, and I began to hire like-minded Associates to represent the additional clients. This made the process better still, because now I had colleagues with whom I could exchange ideas, strategies, and information and my office has been growing ever since.

We still get occasional requests to represent clients in other types of cases, but we do not accept any case outside family law.

All we do is family law, all day, every day. That's the philosophy behind our company which is why today the firm is known as the Divorce and Family Law Offices of Wakenight & Associates, P.C.

The Most Important Cases in Family Law: Child Custody

In child custody cases, the stakes are high, the pressure is intense and emotions run high. Over the years Mark T. Wakenight has successfully won custody for many clients. "It's not just a matter of knowing and applying the facts to the law it's also a matter of coaching a distraught mother or father through the most difficult time of their lives. Just like I took these cases now my Associates capably handle these difficult cases, but with much more help from colleagues and myself, where necessary."

In handling custody cases Wakenight became eligible to serve as an attorney for children in custody cases and in 2001 he was certified by the Honorable Judge Moshe Jacobius, then Presiding Judge of the Cook County Domestic Relations Division, to represent children in custody cases in the Circuit Court of Cook County llinois. He maintained that certification until 2013 when he resigned to concentrate more fully on the management of the Divorce and Family Law Offices of Wakenight & Associates, P.C.

Practice Areas

• Divorce 
• Paternity
• Custody
• Guardianship
• Child Support 
• Maintenance
• Property Division
• Visitation
• Post-Decree Litigation
• Grandparents Rights

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, 1988
• U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, 1989

Education

• University of Kansas School of Law, Lawrence, Kansas, 1988, J.D.
• University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1981, B.A.

Professional Associations

• American Bar Association
• Illinois State Bar Association
• Chicago Bar Association
• DuPage County Bar Association
• Will County Bar Association
• West Suburban Bar Association