Mark A. Totten

Mark A. Totten was sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan on May 5, 2022. He was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Totten is the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District of Michigan. He supervises a staff of approximately 45 attorneys and 45 support staff. The District covers 49 counties, including the western half of Michigan’s lower peninsula and the whole of the upper peninsula. The main office is in Grand Rapids, but the District also has staffed offices in Lansing and Marquette, and an unstaffed office in Kalamazoo.

U.S. Attorney Totten was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he lives today. Previously he served as Chief Legal Counsel in the Executive Office of the Governor for the State of Michigan from 2019-2022. Prior to entering government service, Totten was a law professor at Michigan State University from 2008-2018, where he taught criminal law and criminal procedure. From 2011-2013 he served part-time as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney handling criminal appeals in the Office he now leads. He was a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and began his career as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Appellate Staff, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Totten received his B.A. from Cedarville College and his law degree and a Ph.D. in ethics from Yale University.