Mark Van Paasschen

Before Mark Van Paasschen was telling juries your story, he was telling Oklahoma and Texas their stories — live, on camera, and on deadline.

For years, Mark was the familiar face behind the anchor desk and the voice behind the microphone. He reported news and sports for KRHD in Bryan, Texas; anchored weekend sports for KXII in the Texoma region; produced and reported for KOKH in Oklahoma City; and ultimately served as Sports Director at KSBI-TV 52, where he anchored the live nightly half-hour show OK SportsWrap. He grew that show’s ratings while management shrank the staff around him — a pretty good early test of the kind of attorney he would become: undermanned, outgunned, and still finding a way to win.

In 2013, Mark traded the teleprompter for a law license. He earned his Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University School of Law (after a Bachelor of Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin — Hook ’em) and opened his own solo personal injury practice. Today, he is one of the primary case-working attorneys at Bison Law Firm, where he fights the big insurance carriers on behalf of injured Oklahomans every single day.

Why Clients Hire Mark

Personal injury cases are, at their core, storytelling. An insurance adjuster in a cubicle two states away is going to decide what your broken back, your lost wages, and your ruined year are worth — based almost entirely on how the story gets told. Mark spent a decade in newsrooms learning how to take complicated facts and make them land. He now uses that same skill to make sure claims adjusters, defense lawyers, judges, and juries understand exactly what happened to you and why it matters.

His peers describe his approach as creative and innovative. His clients describe him as the guy who actually picks up the phone. Mark begins every representation by treating clients with compassion and respect for what brought them through Bison’s door — and then he treats them as strategic partners through the often confusing world of medical treatment, liens, and insurance negotiation. Complex legal issues come out in plain English. Hard questions get straight answers.

Practice Focus

Mark handles serious injury and wrongful death cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning clients pay nothing unless he wins. His work covers auto and trucking collisions, products liability, medical malpractice, insurance bad faith, catastrophic injury, and related civil litigation. He is licensed in Oklahoma state and federal courts and is also licensed in his home state of Texas. His appellate work includes Wiley v. Gray Television (Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, 2023).

Off the Clock

Mark never really left broadcasting — he just changed venues. He is the stadium public address announcer for Mustang High School football and basketball, and he works freelance game nights for the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club. A Canadian County resident who lives just a few minutes from the firm, Mark is an active member of Crossings Community Church and a member of the Robert J. Turner Inn of Court. When he can steal an afternoon, you’ll find him on a golf course or on the lake.

The Bottom Line

If you or someone you love has been hurt because of someone else’s carelessness, you need an attorney who will listen carefully, prepare relentlessly, and tell your story in a way the other side can’t ignore. That’s what Mark does. It’s what he’s always done — just with a different kind of microphone.