Mark Abbott Lester

Attorney Mark A. Lester is a highly regarded trust & estates litigation attorney with extensive experience estate planning, succession planning, probate, and trust administration. Mr. Lester has received an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell since 2001 for maintaining the highest standards of professional and ethical excellence in the legal community. He is focused primarily in the following areas of practice:

Trust and Estate Litigation

Succession and Estate Planning

Trust Administration and Probate

Professional Experience

In a career spanning over 44 years, Mr. Lester is widely recognized for his legal achievements. He has been certified as an estate planning, trust, and probate law specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. In September 2022, Mr. Lester finished serving as the Chairperson and six-year tenure as one of 7 attorney–members of the Board of Trustees of the California Board of Legal Specialization after 5 years of service as one of the nine (9) appointed commissioners on the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization, Estate Planning Law Advisory Commission, which is responsible for writing, administering and grading the certification examination and approving the application for California attorneys seeking to become California Certified Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. Beginning in 2015, I have been annually recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyers in Estate & Trust Litigation (2015 – 2025), in Estate Planning & Probate (2015 & 2018) and in Corporate/Business (2018) areas of the law, and in 2022 through 2025 as a Southern California Top 100 Super Lawyer.

Mr. Lester has an established reputation in the legal community as a respected trial attorney. Mr. Lester was trial and appellate counsel in the published opinions of Breslin v. Breslin (2021) 62 Cal.App.5th 801 (and originator and author of the "Breslin Notice" which is now used throughout California probate courts in managing their litigation matters), Christie v. Kimball (2012) 202 Cal.App.4th 1407, and Estate of Odian (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 152, and the author of one of the Amicus Briefs relied upon and quoted by the California Supreme Court in reversing the Court of Appeal in Barefoot v. Jennings (2020) 8 Cal.5th 822. Mr. Lester serves from time to time as a Voluntary Settlement Officer through the San Fernando Valley Bar Association for the Probate Department of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He also previously served as a Judge Pro Temp for the Small Claims Department of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

2008 Goldline Research - The Ten Most Dependable Lawyers (Trusts & Estates) of California. Phi Delta Phi (Chairman, Membership Committee, 1978-1979). Associate Editor, Puget Sound Law Review, 1979-1980. Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award in Trusts and Estates.