Donald A. Velez
San Francisco
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555 South Flower Street
Forty-Fifth Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90071
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Overview
Donald “Dino” A. Velez is a member of the firm’s Public Sector, Construction Law and Employment & Labor Practice Groups. He has been a practicing litigator for over 32 years. Dino advises cities, counties, school districts and other governmental and public entities on education law, labor and employment issues, construction law and general civil litigation. He has extensive experience serving as internal and external counsel to large public entities in Northern California.
He has been the lead litigator and argued in the court of appeals on claims arising from the charter school issues and the California Public Records Act. He has advised numerous clients regarding complexities of The Brown Act, board and governance issues, student and teacher discipline, labor negotiations, budgeting plans and procedures, and school district operations.
Dino has been chief negotiator for school districts in negotiations with certificated and classified unions. He successfully defended claims of racial discrimination against a school district and city relating to a student protest, defeated teachers’ claims of free speech violations, and dismissed claims against a school district for harassment of a student by a teacher.
Dino has handled construction law litigation including issues of delay, design and performance claims, professional negligence claims, contractual claims, environmental, and regulatory matters. He has defended claims related to construction defect, design defect, subsidence and water penetration issues, CEQA, municipal ordinances and code compliance, and numerous other issues relating to construction and land use.
Dino has conducted training for public entity managers to avoid discrimination, prevent sexual harassment as well as other employment issues such as best practices for social media policies and technology use.
When he is not assisting clients, Dino enjoys traveling the world and hurling himself down mountains at high speed with friends and family on skis.