Attorney Biography
Mr. Mazzarella has enjoyed remarkable success as a true “trial lawyer” over the past 39 years, trying cases from San Diego to Washington D.C. Unlike most “litigators” today, who have very little actual trial experience, Mr. Mazzarella has tried more than 85 cases, mostly before juries, but also before judges and arbitrators. His trial experience and skills as a true trial lawyer have not just led to victory for his clients in the courtroom, they have given him the reputation as someone who tries and wins cases, which in turn results in faster and more favorable settlements.
In the third year after Mr. Mazzarella first formed his own firm, it was recognized in a San Diego Metropolitan Magazine poll of downtown San Diego attorneys as one of the three most admired firms in San Diego. Since 2006, in polls of over 6,000 San Diego attorneys who were asked by the San Diego Daily Transcript to name the “Top Attorneys in San Diego”, Mr. Mazzarella has been selected in the “Corporate Litigation” category. Every year since the results of the “Best of the U.S.” peer review polls were first published Mr. Mazzarella has been listed. In some years he was the only San Diego real estate litigator on the list. Every year since Thompson & Reuters has published the results of its peer review polls Mr. Mazzarella has been named a “San Diego Super Lawyer.” Each year for the past 37 years, Mr. Mazzarella also has received the highest possible rating, “AV Preeminent 5.0/5.0,” from Martindale Hubbell, the oldest and most widely recognized attorney peer-review publication in the world.
Among the most highly regarded trial lawyers in California, Mr. Mazzarella has been asked repeatedly to join the faculty of the American Bar Association’s National Trial Institute, “How to Win A Business Jury Trial.” Since the year 2000, Mr. Mazzarella has been asked to participate in the trial demonstration programs at the Annual Trial Seminar of The Litigation Section of The California State Bar, and The Association of Business Trial Lawyers’ Annual Trial Symposium more than any other attorney in California.Mr. Mazzarella is a past chair of the 10,000 member Litigation Section of the California State Bar Association, is a two-term past president of The Association of Business Trial Lawyers–San Diego, and is a member of the American Bar Association Advisory Panel. In 2007, Mr. Mazzarella was one of 3 San Diego attorneys appointed by the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to serve as a lawyer representative to the Judicial Conference of The United States Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit. He has served as a judge pro tem for the San Diego County Superior Court and chaired the ad hoc Committee on Bench/Bar relations for the San Diego County Superior and Municipal Courts, and the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, which was formed to help stabilize bench/bar relations in the wake of the 1996 bribery convictions in San Diego of three judges and one attorney. In 1992-1993 he was the principal draftsman of the Guidelines for Ethics, Civility and Professionalism for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, to which 50 San Diego law firms pledged to comply. In 2006, Mr. Mazzarella was acknowledged by the San Diego Daily Transcript when it named San Diego’s “Top Influentials,” those who had the most influence on the San Diego business community.
