Exhibit 31(a)


                               CERTIFICATIONS


      I, Mark E. Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer of Hallmark Financial
 Services, Inc. (the "Company"), certify that:

   1.    I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of the Company;

   2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
 statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
 make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
 statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
 this report;

   3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
 information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects
 the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the Company
 as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

   4.    The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
 establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures [as defined
 in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)] for the Company and have:

      a)   designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
 disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
 ensure that material information relating to the Company, including its
 consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
 entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being
 prepared;

      b)   evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls
 and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
 effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
 of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

      c)   disclosed in this report any change in the Company's internal
 control over financial reporting that occurred during the Company's most
 recent fiscal quarter (the Company's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of
 an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
 materially affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting;
 and

   5.   The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
 our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to
 the Company's auditors and the audit committee of the Company's board of
 directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a)   all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
 design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
 are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's ability to record,
 process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b)   any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
 other employees who have a significant role in the Company's internal
 control over financial reporting.


 Date:     March 22, 2006

                                    /s/ Mark E. Schwarz
                                    -----------------------------------------
                                    Mark E. Schwarz, Chief Executive Officer