Mark H. Donatelli

Mark has been a partner since 1983. New Mexico Board of Legal Specializations. He is a Recognized Specialist in Criminal Law land has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America" since 1989.

Mark and the firm’s other partners were appointed Special Prosecutors by the Navajo Nation’s Department of Justice in October 2011 and directed to investigate allegations related to the use of tribal funds.

Prior positions:

District Public Defender, New Mexico Public Defender Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico1978 – 1980;

Prison Riot Defense Director, New Mexico Public Defender Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico1980 – 1983.

EDUCATION

Purdue University, B.S. Industrial Management, 1971.

Franklin Pierce Law Center, J.D. 1976.

DISTINCTIONS AND HONORS

Appointments:

1983 to present - appointed by court as counsel for the plaintiff class in the prison conditions lawsuit Duran vs. King

1990 - appointed Special Prosecutor for the Navajo Nation by the Special Division of the Window Rock District Court

1999 to present - appointed by the Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives to the New Mexico Sentencing Commission

2000 - appointed by court to the Criminal Justice Act Committee for the District of New Mexico to develop, among other things, a capital representation plan

2001 - appointed to the New Mexico State Bar Commission Task Force to consider a moratorium resolution on the death penalty

2006 - appointed to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Project to provide assistance to the judiciary and attorneys appointed to federal capital cases through contract funded and administered under the Criminal Justice Act by the Defender Services Division of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Other Distinctions and Honors:

New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization, recognized specialist in criminal law - Trial Specialist

New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, past president

Recipient - Charles Driscoll Memorial Award, New Mexico Defense Lawyers Association

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Death Penalty Committee

Lecturer, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Life in the Balance, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel

Listed in the Best Lawyers in America, Criminal Defense since 1989

Listed in Southwest Super Lawyers, Criminal Defense since 2007

Martindale Hubbell AV rating

BAR ADMISSIONS

State Bar of New Mexico, 1976

United States Court of Appeals - Tenth Circuit, 1990

United States District Court - New Mexico, 1983

United States District Court - Arizona, 1991

MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS

First Judicial District Bar Association

State Bar of New Mexico (Chairman, Criminal Law Section, 1983 - 1984; Board Member, 1985 - 2001)

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers (Legislative Director; President, 1987 - 1994)

American Inns of Court (Master Bencher).