Mark was an Assistant Federal Public Defender, handling hundreds of federal criminal cases in the Middle District of Florida. He has spent the past 15 years fighting for his clients in private practice throughout Florida and elsewhere. Mark concentrates his practice in all areas of criminal defense, including narcotics, firearms, violent crimes, child pornography, DUI, and similar investigations and charges. Mark also has extensive experience defending white collar criminal matters, having represented doctors, pharmacists, realtors, accountants, business owners, other professional individuals, and business entities at all stages of the criminal justice process, including subpoenas, state and federal grand jury investigations, trial, and appeal.
Mark has successfully fought for his clients in a wide range of state and federal criminal matters, including:
Medicare and other medical fraud
federal health care kickbacks
possession and distribution of child pornography
felon in possession of firearms or ammunition
mortgage and accounting fraud
health care investigations
possession/trafficking in narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana
delivery of narcotics causing death
money laundering
DUI
counterfeiting
regulatory enforcement
SEC investigations
internal investigations
Mark also represents doctors, physician practices, pharmacists, pharmacies, and other health care professionals in defending False Claims Act (qui tam) investigations and lawsuits, responding to civil investigative demands and other matters related to health care regulations.
As a former Assistant Federal Public Defender, Mark served as trial and appellate counsel to hundreds of federal criminal defendants charged in a wide range of cases including fraud offenses, drug offenses, immigration matters, and firearms offenses.
Mark is a frequent lecturer and has written numerous articles on criminal topics. He is also the recipient of the ABA’s Litigation Section Outstanding Service Award and has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in white collar and non-white collar criminal defense, as well as listed in Florida Trend’s Legal Elite and Florida Super Lawyers.
Old Dominion University, B.S. Criminal Justice, magna cum laude, 1996
Florida
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
United States Supreme Court
Mark was an Assistant Federal Public Defender, handling hundreds of federal criminal cases in the Middle District of Florida. He has spent the past 15 years fighting for his clients in private practice throughout Florida and elsewhere. Mark concentrates his practice in all areas of criminal defense, including narcotics, firearms, violent crimes, child pornography, DUI, and similar investigations and charges. Mark also has extensive experience defending white collar criminal matters, having represented doctors, pharmacists, realtors, accountants, business owners, other professional individuals, and business entities at all stages of the criminal justice process, including subpoenas, state and federal grand jury investigations, trial, and appeal.
Mark has successfully fought for his clients in a wide range of state and federal criminal matters, including:
Medicare and other medical fraud
federal health care kickbacks
possession and distribution of child pornography
felon in possession of firearms or ammunition
mortgage and accounting fraud
health care investigations
possession/trafficking in narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana
delivery of narcotics causing death
money laundering
DUI
counterfeiting
regulatory enforcement
SEC investigations
internal investigations
Mark also represents doctors, physician practices, pharmacists, pharmacies, and other health care professionals in defending False Claims Act (qui tam) investigations and lawsuits, responding to civil investigative demands and other matters related to health care regulations.
As a former Assistant Federal Public Defender, Mark served as trial and appellate counsel to hundreds of federal criminal defendants charged in a wide range of cases including fraud offenses, drug offenses, immigration matters, and firearms offenses.
Mark is a frequent lecturer and has written numerous articles on criminal topics. He is also the recipient of the ABA’s Litigation Section Outstanding Service Award and has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in white collar and non-white collar criminal defense, as well as listed in Florida Trend’s Legal Elite and Florida Super Lawyers.
University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1999
Old Dominion University, B.S. Criminal Justice, magna cum laude, 1996
Florida
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
United States Supreme Court
Mark P. Rankin
Mark was an Assistant Federal Public Defender, handling hundreds of federal criminal cases in the Middle District of Florida. He has spent the past 15 years fighting for his clients in private practice throughout Florida and elsewhere. Mark concentrates his practice in all areas of criminal defense, including narcotics, firearms, violent crimes, child pornography, DUI, and similar investigations and charges. Mark also has extensive experience defending white collar criminal matters, having represented doctors, pharmacists, realtors, accountants, business owners, other professional individuals, and business entities at all stages of the criminal justice process, including subpoenas, state and federal grand jury investigations, trial, and appeal.
Mark has successfully fought for his clients in a wide range of state and federal criminal matters, including:
Medicare and other medical fraud
federal health care kickbacks
possession and distribution of child pornography
felon in possession of firearms or ammunition
mortgage and accounting fraud
health care investigations
possession/trafficking in narcotics, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and marijuana
delivery of narcotics causing death
money laundering
DUI
counterfeiting
regulatory enforcement
SEC investigations
internal investigations
Mark also represents doctors, physician practices, pharmacists, pharmacies, and other health care professionals in defending False Claims Act (qui tam) investigations and lawsuits, responding to civil investigative demands and other matters related to health care regulations.
As a former Assistant Federal Public Defender, Mark served as trial and appellate counsel to hundreds of federal criminal defendants charged in a wide range of cases including fraud offenses, drug offenses, immigration matters, and firearms offenses.
Mark is a frequent lecturer and has written numerous articles on criminal topics. He is also the recipient of the ABA’s Litigation Section Outstanding Service Award and has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in white collar and non-white collar criminal defense, as well as listed in Florida Trend’s Legal Elite and Florida Super Lawyers.
Florida Bar Federal Court Practice Committee (2017-present)
Federal Roundtable Subcommittee
Rules Subcommittee
Federal Judicial Guide Subcommittee
Chair, National Seminar on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (2012-2015)
Criminal Justice Act Panel, Middle District of Florida (2006-present)
Herbert G. Goldburg-Ronald K. Cacciatore Criminal Law American Inn of Court (2003-2016)
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2003-present)
Board of Directors (2007-2009)
White Collar Crime Committee
Co-Chair, Sentencing Committee (2009-2013)
Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2003-present)
Board of Directors (2006-2009, 2011-2015, 2017-present)
Chair, Criminal and Government Investigations Practice Committee (2017-present)
The Florida Bar Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee (2006-2009)
Editor-in-Chief, ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter (2007-2009)
Hillsborough County Bar Association, Chair of Criminal Law Section (2007-2013)
Federal Bar Association, Qui Tam Section (2016-present)
Teaching Activities
Instructor, White Collar Criminal Defense College at Stetson College of Law (2012 to present)
Adjunct Professor, University of Tampa (2004)
Adjunct Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law (2004-2009)
Civic Engagement
Best Buddies Tampa Bay, Advisory Board (2019-present)
Champion magazine, Advisory Board (2007-present)
2014 Class of Leadership St. Pete
Northeast Park Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors (2009-2011) Chair, Safe Streets Committee
Board of Directors, PARC (Pinellas Association for Retarded Children) (2009-2011)
St. Petersburg-Clearwater Film Society’s SunScreen Film Festival, Board of Directors (2006)
Clerkships
Law Clerk, United States District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, Southern District of Florida (2000-2001)
Law Clerk, United States Magistrate Judge Ann Vitunac, Southern District of Florida (1999-2000)
Recipient, Marcelino “Bubba” Huerta III Award for Professionalism and Pro Bono Service, 2019
Best Lawyers in America®
Criminal Defense: White Collar and Non-White Collar, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Criminal Defense, General Practice, 2020
Criminal Defense, White-Collar, 2020
ABA’s Litigation Section Outstanding Service Award, 2007-2008
Florida Super Lawyers
Rising Star, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Super Lawyer, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Florida Trend’s Legal Elite
Up & Comer, 2007, 2008, 2009
Criminal Law, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019
Moderator, “Privileged Communications: What’s Protected Under Federal and Florida Rules of Evidence,” CLE hosted by Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers and Federal Bar Association, Tampa, FL (February 28, 2019)
Panelist, “Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Civil and Criminal Damages,” ABA 20th Annual National Institute on Health Care Fraud, Miami, FL (May 14, 2010)
Panelist, “Orange Jumpsuits Aren’t Flattering: The Expanding Threat of Criminal Liability for Lawyers,” 2009 Aon Large Law Firm Symposium, San Francisco, CA (October 15, 2009)
Moderator, “Chapter Three Adjustments,” 18th Annual Federal Sentencing Guidelines Seminar, Tampa, FL (May 21-22, 2009)
Panelist, “Avoiding Jail, Disbarment and Other Bad Consequences: What You Need to Know About Real Estate Collateral,” ABA Real Estate Financing Subcommittee, ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX (April 2008)
Panelist, “Grouping and Firearms Offenses,” National Seminar on Federal Sentencing Guidelines (2004 & 2006)
Author, “U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Important Traffic Stop Case” (HCBA Lawyer Magazine) (December 2013)
Author, “It’s Time to Rethink America’s Rate of Incarceration” (The Tampa Tribune) (April 2013)
Co-Author, “Grid & Bear It. Let the Seller Beware: Sentencing Entrapment and Manipulation in Federal Court” – The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 42 (August 2010)
Author, “Padilla: Supreme Court Requires Defense Counsel to Advise on Deportation” – HCBA Lawyer, (June 2010)
Author, “Supreme Court Examines Effect of Invocation of Counsel,” HCBA Lawyer at 22 (December 2009)
Author, “E Original: The Best Evidence Rule in Florida,” HCBA Lawyer at 20 (October 2009)
Author, “Rule 35(b) Meets Section 3553(a) – What Can a Federal Court Consider?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 61 (September/October 2009)
Author, “Pardon Me: Jury Nullification in Florida and the Eleventh Circuit,” HCBA Lawyer at 22 (September 2009)
Author, “Crawford Extended: United States and Supreme Courts Expand Confrontation Clause Protections,” St. Petersburg Bar Association (2009)
Co-Author, “Parole’s Essential Role in Bailing out Our Nation’s Criminal Justice Systems,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 47 (January 2009)
Co-Author, “Nobody Looks Good in Orange: Keeping Your Client and Yourself Out of Prison,” Business Law Today, at 43 (November/December 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: The Post-Booker World: Does the Ex Post Facto Clause Still Apply at Sentencing?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 59 (October 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: Irizarry v. United States,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 55 (September 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: Watson v. United States The Supreme Court Limits the “Use” Prong Of Section 924(c),” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 51 (March 2008)
Author, “Evidence Law Trumps the Fifth Amendment – Florida Rule of Evidence 806,” HCBA Lawyer at 20 (February 2008)
Co-Author, “Substantial Assistance – The Key to Freedom: Representing a Cooperating Defendant in Federal Court,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 12 (July 2007)
Author, “Surprise, Surprise: Is Proper Notice Still Required for an Above-Guidelines Sentence in Federal Court?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) (March 2007)
Co-Author, “Something Funny Happened On The Way To Discretionary Sentencing: Why A Presumption Of Reasonableness Violates The Holding of Booker,” Committee on Criminal Litigation, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Winter 2007)
Co-Author, “Traps for the Unwary: Cross References and Guideline Sentencing,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 52 (September/October 2006)
Mark Rankin Badges
Florida Bar Federal Court Practice Committee (2017-present)
Federal Roundtable Subcommittee
Rules Subcommittee
Federal Judicial Guide Subcommittee
Chair, National Seminar on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (2012-2015)
Criminal Justice Act Panel, Middle District of Florida (2006-present)
Herbert G. Goldburg-Ronald K. Cacciatore Criminal Law American Inn of Court (2003-2016)
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (2003-present)
Board of Directors (2007-2009)
White Collar Crime Committee
Co-Chair, Sentencing Committee (2009-2013)
Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (2003-present)
Board of Directors (2006-2009, 2011-2015, 2017-present)
Chair, Criminal and Government Investigations Practice Committee (2017-present)
The Florida Bar Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee (2006-2009)
Editor-in-Chief, ABA Criminal Litigation Newsletter (2007-2009)
Hillsborough County Bar Association, Chair of Criminal Law Section (2007-2013)
Federal Bar Association, Qui Tam Section (2016-present)
Teaching Activities
Instructor, White Collar Criminal Defense College at Stetson College of Law (2012 to present)
Adjunct Professor, University of Tampa (2004)
Adjunct Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law (2004-2009)
Civic Engagement
Best Buddies Tampa Bay, Advisory Board (2019-present)
Champion magazine, Advisory Board (2007-present)
2014 Class of Leadership St. Pete
Northeast Park Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors (2009-2011) Chair, Safe Streets Committee
Board of Directors, PARC (Pinellas Association for Retarded Children) (2009-2011)
St. Petersburg-Clearwater Film Society’s SunScreen Film Festival, Board of Directors (2006)
Clerkships
Law Clerk, United States District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp, Southern District of Florida (2000-2001)
Law Clerk, United States Magistrate Judge Ann Vitunac, Southern District of Florida (1999-2000)
Recipient, Marcelino “Bubba” Huerta III Award for Professionalism and Pro Bono Service, 2019
Best Lawyers in America®
Criminal Defense: White Collar and Non-White Collar, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Criminal Defense, General Practice, 2020
Criminal Defense, White-Collar, 2020
ABA’s Litigation Section Outstanding Service Award, 2007-2008
Florida Super Lawyers
Rising Star, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Super Lawyer, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Florida Trend’s Legal Elite
Up & Comer, 2007, 2008, 2009
Criminal Law, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019
Moderator, “Privileged Communications: What’s Protected Under Federal and Florida Rules of Evidence,” CLE hosted by Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers and Federal Bar Association, Tampa, FL (February 28, 2019)
Panelist, “Federal Sentencing Guidelines and Civil and Criminal Damages,” ABA 20th Annual National Institute on Health Care Fraud, Miami, FL (May 14, 2010)
Panelist, “Orange Jumpsuits Aren’t Flattering: The Expanding Threat of Criminal Liability for Lawyers,” 2009 Aon Large Law Firm Symposium, San Francisco, CA (October 15, 2009)
Moderator, “Chapter Three Adjustments,” 18th Annual Federal Sentencing Guidelines Seminar, Tampa, FL (May 21-22, 2009)
Panelist, “Avoiding Jail, Disbarment and Other Bad Consequences: What You Need to Know About Real Estate Collateral,” ABA Real Estate Financing Subcommittee, ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting, Dallas, TX (April 2008)
Panelist, “Grouping and Firearms Offenses,” National Seminar on Federal Sentencing Guidelines (2004 & 2006)
Author, “U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Important Traffic Stop Case” (HCBA Lawyer Magazine) (December 2013)
Author, “It’s Time to Rethink America’s Rate of Incarceration” (The Tampa Tribune) (April 2013)
Co-Author, “Grid & Bear It. Let the Seller Beware: Sentencing Entrapment and Manipulation in Federal Court” – The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 42 (August 2010)
Author, “Padilla: Supreme Court Requires Defense Counsel to Advise on Deportation” – HCBA Lawyer, (June 2010)
Author, “Supreme Court Examines Effect of Invocation of Counsel,” HCBA Lawyer at 22 (December 2009)
Author, “E Original: The Best Evidence Rule in Florida,” HCBA Lawyer at 20 (October 2009)
Author, “Rule 35(b) Meets Section 3553(a) – What Can a Federal Court Consider?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 61 (September/October 2009)
Author, “Pardon Me: Jury Nullification in Florida and the Eleventh Circuit,” HCBA Lawyer at 22 (September 2009)
Author, “Crawford Extended: United States and Supreme Courts Expand Confrontation Clause Protections,” St. Petersburg Bar Association (2009)
Co-Author, “Parole’s Essential Role in Bailing out Our Nation’s Criminal Justice Systems,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 47 (January 2009)
Co-Author, “Nobody Looks Good in Orange: Keeping Your Client and Yourself Out of Prison,” Business Law Today, at 43 (November/December 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: The Post-Booker World: Does the Ex Post Facto Clause Still Apply at Sentencing?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 59 (October 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: Irizarry v. United States,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 55 (September 2008)
Author, “Informal Opinion: Watson v. United States The Supreme Court Limits the “Use” Prong Of Section 924(c),” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 51 (March 2008)
Author, “Evidence Law Trumps the Fifth Amendment – Florida Rule of Evidence 806,” HCBA Lawyer at 20 (February 2008)
Co-Author, “Substantial Assistance – The Key to Freedom: Representing a Cooperating Defendant in Federal Court,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 12 (July 2007)
Author, “Surprise, Surprise: Is Proper Notice Still Required for an Above-Guidelines Sentence in Federal Court?” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) (March 2007)
Co-Author, “Something Funny Happened On The Way To Discretionary Sentencing: Why A Presumption Of Reasonableness Violates The Holding of Booker,” Committee on Criminal Litigation, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Winter 2007)
Co-Author, “Traps for the Unwary: Cross References and Guideline Sentencing,” The Champion (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) at 52 (September/October 2006)
