My name is Mark Velez and thank you for visiting my site. I would like to take a moment to tell you about who I am and why I opened my own law practice. I was born and raised in Southern California. After completing high school, I started my passion for public service in law enforcement. With over 35+ years of combined law enforcement and criminal defense experience, I provide a robust defense for any criminal matter.

With a long history of law enforcement experience, I became an expert in every aspect of policing including policies and procedures, investigations, internal affairs, use of force, special operations, and personnel and training. I have been fortunate enough to hold every position including Police Officer, Field Training Officer, Sergeant, Detective, Detective Sergeant, Captain, and Chief of Police. I also have seen, and can spot, the things police do wrong, whether it's violating department policies or violating someone's Constitutional rights.

While working full time, I found a passion for learning, and continued my schooling. I enrolled at El Camino College and majored in Criminal Justice. After earning enough credits, I transferred to Redlands University where I earned a bachelor's degree in business management. I then earned a master's degree in public administration at California State University, Dominguez Hills, graduating with honors. Shortly after graduating, I attended the University of Southern California where I earned a PhD in public administration.  After a two-year break in schooling, I went back to school at Southwestern Law School where I earned my JD and graduated with honors.

Over the past 23 years I have also taken great joy in teaching part time at several educational institutions. I started my teaching career at the University of Southern California where I taught statistics to undergraduate, graduate, and international graduate students. My teaching continued at California State University, Dominguez Hills where I have taught many classes including Environmental Practice of Public Administration, Criminal Justice Statistics, Applied Statistics for Public Administration, and Analytic Decision Making, Terrorism and Extremism. I also teach criminal procedure at the Pacific Coast University School of Law in Long Beach.

While in law enforcement, I saw how a bad arrest and/or conviction can hurt a person's future. I saw the injustices people faced at the hands of aggressive police tactics, overcharging, profiling and overzealous prosecution.  That is why I opened my own law practice so I can use my law enforcement experience coupled with my criminal defense experience to provide the best possible representation.

My background makes my representation unique. I not only know the law, but I also understand policies and procedures of law enforcement, and their culture. This helps me spot obvious and not so obvious signs where errors were made that are not readily visible to others. Finally, my teaching experience allows me to explain your charges, and the justice system process in a way that you will clearly understand what is happening every step of the way. I understand that being involved in a criminal matter is very stressful and can affect all areas of your life, which is why I take the worry out of the process so you can start living again.

In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and pets. My favorite hobby is travelling to unique places and experiencing other cultures. I feel it's important to learn about other people and cultures. Some of the places I have traveled include Rwanda, Uganda, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, Greece, Mexico, Canada, France, England, Ireland, Panama, Egypt, Israel, Morrocco, and South Africa.