Journalist/Consumer Advocate: Since April 1996, Mark Welch has maintained web sites that provide consumer-oriented information about a variety of internet activities, focusing primarily on "banner advertising" opportunities for web publishers. Mark's primary goal with these sites is to protect small web publishers from unscrupulous vendors, and to help the emerging electronic commerce industry by candidly evaluating vendors and identifying suspicious operations.
Internet Advertising Consultant: Since October 1997, Mark Welch has worked as a consultant for a number of electronic commerce vendors as a consultant, specifically to help design commission-based "affiliate" or "partner" programs, and regarding the operation of "advertising networks." He is also a public speaker, and hosted two one-day "Web Publishers' Brainstorming Sessions" and a one-day "Web Advertising Forum" in California.
Attorney: Effective on November 1, 1998, Mark Welch has withdrawn from the active practice of law, but remains a licensed attorney in California. From May 1993 through October 1998, Mark J. Welch was an sole practitioner in Pleasanton, limiting his practice to estate planning, trust, and probate law. From April 1990 through April 1993, he was an associate with the law firm of Turner & Beeler in San Ramon. Effective November 1, 1998, Mark Welch will not represent any clients in legal matters, and will not give legal advice to web publishers or others.
Civic Involvement: Mark is a member of the Rotary Club of Pleasanton North, and helps other club members in a variety of volunteer projects to help the local community. As an attorney, Mark also volunteered his time to represent grandparents who sought legal guardinship of children who were neglected or abandoned by their parents. Mark teaches an adult education class on estate planning.
Education: Before receiving his J.D. degree in 1989 from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall School of Law), Mr. Welch received his B.A. degree in journalism, with an interdisciplinary emphasis on computer science, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1983. Mark also attended Framingham State College (spring 1980) and is a 1979 graduate of Westborough High School in Massachusetts.
Writing and editing: Mr. Welch has authored more than 250 published articles in more than two dozen different publications over the past 20 years. From 1987 through 1990, he was co-author (with Barry D. Bayer) of a nationally syndicated column published weekly in legal newspapers, and Editor-in-Chief of Law Office Technology Review, a monthly newsletter. More than a decade ago, Mr. Welch was a staff writer for InfoWorld and then a member of its Review Board. Earlier, he was Associate News Editor for BYTE magazine.
Software development: Mr. Welch is also the author of the Generic Adventure Game System (1985) and co-author (with David Malmberg) of the Adventure Game Toolkit (1987), both shareware computer programs for creating"interactive fiction." He was a founding member of the Association of Shareware Professionals.
Go to Mark J. Welch's Home Page
Email to: MarkWelch@MarkWelch.com
Mark J. Welch, P.O. Box 11355, Pleasanton, CA 94588-1355 This Web Page was last updated 9/6/98.
Office: 5820 Stoneridge Mall Rd., Suite 100, Pleasanton, CA
(925) 462-8483
fax (925) 417-1331 fax