The Art of Reading People

Mark Mazzarella is co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Reading People (Random House 1998), and Put Your Best Foot Forward (Simon & Schuster 2000), as well as scores of legal and lay articles. He has spoken frequently regarding impression formation and management to a wide assortment of groups throughout the United States and internationally, and has been asked to comment on the impressions made by people in the news on such programs as “Larry King Live”, “Hardball With Chris Mathews”, “The O’Reilly Factor”, “The Kathleen Crier Report”, “The Edge With Paula Zahn”, “The Abrams Report With Dan Abrams” and scores of other ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN news shows. Mr. Mazzarella has been quoted in hundreds of magazines and newsletters, on topics as diverse as whether President Clinton “had sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky, to “how to conduct a job interview.”

Mr. Mazzarella has worked with politicians, business people, attorneys and witnesses throughout the United States to help them enhance the impression they make upon the public, the media, judges and juries.

Mr. Mazzarella specializes in general business litigation, with an emphasis on real estate disputes. Among the most highly regarded trial lawyers in California, he has been asked repeatedly to join the faculty of the American Bar Association’s National Trial Institute, “How to Win A Business Jury Trial,” and, over the past six years, has been invited to participate in the trial demonstration programs at The California State Bar, Litigation Section’s Annual Seminar and The Association of Business Trial Lawyers’ Annual Trial Symposium more than any other attorney in California.

Mr. Mazzarella is co-founder and senior partner of the San Diego law firm of Mazzarella Caldarelli, which was recognized in a San Diego Metropolitan Magazine poll of downtown San Diego attorneys as one of the three most admired law firms in San Diego. Prior to forming Mazzarella, Dunwoody & Caldarelli, Mr. Mazzarella was chairperson of the trial department of California’s largest real estate law firm, Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble & Mallory’s San Diego office, and chairperson of the trial department of the San Diego-based national law firm of Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps. He received his undergraduate degree in 1975 from United States International University, Cal Western, where he graduated first in his class, and his law degree from U.C.L.A., where he was a member of the U.C.L.A. Law Review, and received the honor of giving the commencement address on behalf of the law school graduating class of 1978.

Wendy Patrick Mazzarella is a Trial Attorney, named by her peers as one of the Top Ten criminal attorneys in San Diego by the San Diego Daily Transcript in both 2008 and 2007. She began her legal career as a trial attorney with the San Diego County Deputy Public Defender’s Office.  Most of her practice is trial work; she has completed approximately 140 trials including 92 criminal jury trials ranging from stalking, to torture, to first-degree murder.  In her current assignment in the Sex Crimes and Stalking Division she prosecutes cases involving vice, child molestation, and sexually violent predators.  She received her Bachelors degree in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles, and her Law Degree from California Western School of Law.  Her legal education included study in Vienna, Austria, Budapest, Hungary, and interning at a Barrister firm in London, England.  Ms. Mazzarella is admitted to practice law in California, the United States District Court in the Southern District of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Mazzarella is the former Chair and a current member of the San Diego County Bar Association’s Ethics Committee, one of 16 members of the California State Bar’s Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), and an accomplished public speaker on the topic of ethics both nationally and internationally.  She teaches ethics around the country on a regular basis for various legal and business organizations, and is an Institute of Criminal Investigation (ICI) certified instructor for law enforcement.   Ms. Mazzarella has been featured as a media topic area expert on the radio as well as on both local and international television.  

In a different genre of programs, Ms. Mazzarella presents motivational seminars, keynote speeches, and workshops nationwide.  She is a frequent conference opening speaker around the country on the subjects of “Reading People” and “How to Make a Great Impression,” and she also presents at business retreats and workshops on the topics of “Effective Communication with Difficult People,” “Leadership,” “Building Partnerships,” and related subjects.

Ms. Mazzarella is published on a regular basis.  She is co-author of Reading People (Random House 2008), and was a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of Race and Racism (Macmillan Reference 2007), and Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies (SAGE 2004).  She has her own ethics column in the San Diego Daily Transcript, a regular column in Law Enforcement Quarterly, is a columnist and editorial Board member for San Diego Lawyer, and has been published multiple times in California District Attorneys Association publications and the California State Bar Criminal Law Journal.  She has also been published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, has contributed several MCLE ethics articles for the California Bar Journal, and has been published in The Professional Lawyer, published by the American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility and the Standing Committee on Professionalism.  She is a contributing ethics author for Doing Justice and The Practical Prosecutor (National College of District Attorneys national publications). 

Ms. Mazzarella sits on the Executive Committee of the California State Bar Criminal Law Section and is a Master in the Louis M. Welsh American Inn of Court.  She is a past Vice President of the SDCBA, a past Vice President and Programs Chair of the Lawyers Club of San Diego, and a past Board member of the San Diego Crime Victim’s Fund. 

Ms. Mazzarella has been recognized for her legal work as well as her work in the community.  She received the Service to the San Diego County Bar Association Award from the San Diego County Bar Association in 2005, the Friend of the Community Award from the Tom Homann Law Association in 2003, and was recognized as one of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s 40 under 40 honorees in 2001.

On a personal note, Ms. Mazzarella holds a purple belt in Shorin-Ryu karate, is a concert violinist with the La Jolla Symphony, and plays the electric violin professionally with a rock band, performing both locally and in Hollywood.  Regarding Ms. Mazzarella’s true passion in life, she holds a Master of Divinity degree summa cum laude from Bethel Seminary San Diego where she co-chaired the Student Senate, and was awarded the 2009 Excellence in Preaching Award and the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award.