Mark J. Dinsmore was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge on December 17, 2010.  He filled the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Jane E. Magnus-Stinson to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
 
Prior to his appointment, Magistrate Judge Dinsmore was with the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where he had practiced since 1996.  His practice concentrated in the areas of complex commercial disputes and construction litigation matters.  He focused on the use of technology to facilitate the management of complex matters and chaired the firm’s Litigation Department Technology Committee.  He also represented clients in international and domestic arbitrations, including representing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an international arbitration arising out of the Dayton Accords that ended the Balkan war.  Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg, Judge Dinsmore served as a law clerk for the Honorable John Daniel Tinder, who was then serving as a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.  Before attending law school, he served as a captain in the United States Army in, among other places, the Republic of Korea.
 
Magistrate Judge Dinsmore was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Toledo College of Law, where he served as lead articles editor of the University of Toledo Law Review, and was named the Outstanding Law Graduate. He received his A.B. in economics from Wabash College in 1983.