Ernst Mitchell "Mitch" Martzen
Mitch Martzen's practice focuses on providing dedicated advice and trial support to individuals and small businesses. He assists clients facing civil disputes, administrative proceedings, and criminal charges before federal, state, and military tribunals.
Biography:
Mitch was born to missionary parents in Manila, Philippines, and raised on the central coast of California. After graduating high school, he moved to Texas to attend Baylor University on an Air Force scholarship. At Baylor, Mitch completed studies through the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Political Science and Environmental Studies.
Legal Experience:
Upon graduating from Baylor University, Mitch was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. That same year, the Air Force selected Mitch for a special program that allowed him to immediately attend law school. Mitch enrolled at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and showed early signs of success. During his first year, Mitch received American Jurisprudence awards, granted for high academic achievement, in Constitutional Law and Legal Research & Writing. During his second year of law school, Mitch's client counseling team was runner-up in a national
competition held by the American Bar Association. After his third year, Mitch received his Juris Doctor degree
with distinction and was honored by selection into the national
Order of Barristers.
While in law school, Mitch interned with the Air Force and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While working for the Air Force, Mitch learned the essentials of military civil law and military justice. At the FTC, he gained valuable experience in federal civil fraud investigations and enforcement actions.
Shortly after graduating from law school, Mitch was admitted to the State Bar of Texas, and began his career as a member of the Air Force Judge Advocate General's (JAG) Corps. While practicing as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate in Louisiana, Mitch headed the base legal clinic where he counseled hundreds of service members and their families on various civil disputes including divorce, child custody, landlord-tenant issues, real estate contracts, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. He also drafted hundreds of wills for deploying Airmen and military retirees. During his early years in the JAG Corps, Mitch also served as a claims officer and chief of general law, adjudicating tort and personal injury cases brought against the Air Force and handling most civil and administrative legal issues for a large Air Force base. As an Air Force prosecutor, Mitch successfully tried numerous courts-martial before military juries for offenses including drug distribution, drug use, drug possession, firearm assaults, and larceny. In addition to his responsibilities as an Air Force prosecutor, Mitch was appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, prosecuting more than 50 federal criminal cases for crimes including fraud, drug possession,
assault, larceny against the United States, and assimilated state crimes.
After serving as a prosecutor, Mitch was hand-selected to become the Area Defense Counsel, defending service members in criminal investigations, nonjudicial punishment (Article 15) actions, security clearance revocations, discharge proceedings, line of duty determinations, and report of survey investigations. As a defense counsel, Mitch actively defended servicemembers at courts-martial and in discharge boards. For his work, Mitch was lauded as one of the top rookie defenders in the Air Force.
After leaving military practice, Mitch returned to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and became of counsel for the Zendeh Del Law Firm, PLLC.
Continuing Legal Education Courses Taught:
-
Military Issues for Family Lawyers (May, 2008)
-
Twitter, Tweet, & Text - A Primer for Lawyers and their Practice (June, 2010)
-
Admissions:
-
State Bar of Texas (2006)
-
U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal
Appeals (2007)
-
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (2008)
-
United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas (2010)
Associations: