Position: Member

TEL: 813-228-6989

FAX: 866-202-5964

Email: Click Here

Website: 

Admitted:  Florida, 1998 Massachusetts, 1998 U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, 2002 U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, 2008 U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida, 2013 U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 2003 U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit, 2002 U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, 2003 Supreme Court of the United States of America, 2010 U.S. District Court Western District of Texas, 2015

Law School: 

College: 

Birth Date and Place: 

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense; Federal Criminal Appeals and Post-Conviction Motions; Mortgage Fraud Criminal Defense; Securities Fraud; Enticing a Minor, Transferring Obscene Material to a Minor; Possession of Child Porn, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

Additional Information: See: United States of America v. John Jeremy Adams, et al.; United States of America v. Miller Wilson, Jr., Myoshi Wilson and Erica Wilson; United States of America v. Richard Castro, a/k/a "Chemsusa," a/k/a �Chems_usa,� a/k/a �Chemical_usa,� a/k/a �Jagger109"; United States of America v. Miller Wilson, Jr., Myoshi Wilson and Eric Wilson; United States of America v. Jeremy Kee Anderson ; United States of America v. Maxwell Garvice Johnson and Robert Lee Hamilton; United States of America v. Jasmine Wynne; United States of America v. Matthew White; nited States of America v. Ricky Gonzalesl; United States of America v. Chibundu Joseph Anuebunwa; United States of America v. John Muccio

Attorneys Mark O'Brien and Victoria Hatfield provide tenacious, skilled defense against the full range of criminal charges at the state and federal level. Mark O'Brien has practiced criminal law exclusively since 1998. He began his career as a prosecutor in the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, rising to the level of first-degree and felony life prosecutor. In that position, he tried more than 30 cases to verdict and handled literally thousands of cases. Since he began his criminal defense practice in 2001, he has achieved successful results for clients facing a broad range of criminal allegations at both the state and federal levels.

Mark is joined by Victoria Hatfield who, along with firm private investigators, sentencing guideline consultants and mental health specialists, all bring substantial experience and knowledge of criminal law. Together, the law firm of O'Brien Hatfield, PA has the ability to present a strong defense against the most serious charges in any state or federal court in Tampa, the State of Florida and the entire nation.

Although it seems like just yesterday that I started my legal career, I am quickly approaching two decades as an attorney. Having been both a Miami prosecutor and a large firm defense practitioner, I made the decision nearly fifteen years ago to combine my different legal experiences to form a countrywide federal and statewide state criminal defense law firm. Over the course of my almost seventeen-year legal career, I have handled many of the most complex state and federal criminal cases in the State of Florida, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and in federal courts all over the country. I now look forward to helping you and your family through this difficult time in your life. I understand and appreciate what is at stake.

First, however, I will share a little bit about who I am. I will focus on what is important to you and that is my experience and training as a lawyer. I began my career in the late 1990�s as a prosecutor with the Office of the Miami-Dade County State Attorney. Over 4,000 law students from across the country applied to be a Miami prosecutor yet only 44 of those 4,000 were hired. I was one of those 44. Like all young and inexperienced lawyers, I started at the bottom and worked my way to the top. It was an incredible experience. And I assure you that by the time I left Miami to enter private practice in 2001, I was no longer a young and inexperienced lawyer. I was older, wiser and very well trained. While in Miami, I ran a judicial division on a day-to-day basis. I supervised and trained new prosecutors. And I tried a slew of jury trials. Because of my time in my Miami, there is nothing I have not seen nor done as a lawyer. Being a prosecutor in Miami is a lot like going from the 0 to 60 in a Porsche 911 Turbo in four seconds flat � nothing in this world prepares a person to be an attorney like battling day in and day out with the judges, juries and attorneys of Miami-Dade County. Much like Miami itself, being a prosecutor in Miami is unlike anything else in the world. And unlike many big city prosecutorial offices, I tried my first case two weeks into the job. I tried my second case a few weeks later and so on. You get the idea. I was not hired to sit second chair next to a sixty-year old guy during jury trials and I was not hired to conduct legal research in some windowless library. I was hired to try cases. As a young lawyer in Miami you are thrown into the ocean with the sharks and you either sink or you swim. I most definitely swam. By the time I left I had handled everything from homicides to armed drug trafficking cases along with everything in between. I left because there was nothing left for me to accomplish as a prosecutor. And I had no intention of being a life long prosecutor. I was there for one reason. I prosecuted people to learn how to defend people.

Second, I am a member of multiple state courts and federal courts. The summer after I graduated law school I simultaneously, and on my first attempt, passed the bar exams of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of Florida. And when I say took and passed the Massachusetts and Florida Bar Exams simultaneously I literally mean that I took and passed them simultaneously. The moment I answered the last question on the Florida Bar Exam I left in a cab to the airport to fly to Boston to take the Massachusetts Bar Exam the next day. I am also a member of numerous federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, the United States District Court for the Western Division of Texas and the United States District Court for Massachusetts. I have also been admitted to practice law pro hac vice in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. I have also litigated state court cases in New York and Massachusetts. As you can see I have litigated federal and state criminal cases throughout the country. The bottom line is that if you need me, I will fight for you anywhere.

Third, I have lived up and down the eastern seaboard and met and worked with a wide variety of people. I was born in New York. I am a graduate of the small Catholic private school, Siena College located outside of Albany, New York. I next enrolled at the Delaware Law School. While there I interned at various prosecutors� offices in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and clerked for a sitting criminal court judge. After graduating law school I immediately moved to Miami, Florida to start my law career as a prosecutor. While a prosecutor in Miami, I worked my way to the top. At the end of my tenure in Miami I was prosecuting homicides and major felonies and supervising inexperienced lawyers. In 2001 I left Miami after being recruited to start and run the Tampa office of a Miami defense litigation law firm that was expanding statewide. After a few years working with and learning from this firm, I combined the positive aspects of all my previous legal jobs to form my own law firm. My goal was to create an honest, hardworking, innovative and aggressive criminal defense law firm that was all about the practice of law and not at all about the practice of generating money. I believed then and I still believe now that if I focused on my work, the business will ultimately follow. I have been proven correct over time. My practice is unique. I have defended numerous high publicity cases. My practice has grown from a solo law firm to a multi-lawyer law firm with multiple offices throughout the State of Florida. I have represented several NFL players, MLB players, Olympic athletes, doctors, lawyers, accountants, entertainment figures, police officers, members of our nation's military, career offenders and first-time offenders. And if you need me I will represent you.

Fourth, I win. I have won federal jury trials, state jury trials, federal motions to dismiss and federal motions to suppress and state motions to dismiss and state motions to suppress. I have won federal and state appeals and federal and state post-convictions motions. I have obtained federal and state case dismissals. Most importantly I have made private problems for people disappear before they ever became public problems for people. I have represented people that you have never heard of and people that you know by name. My criminal cases have been covered in print and on-line by ESPN, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the USA TODAY, and nearly all of the local Florida newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Pete Times) and the Tampa Tribune.

Nearly fifteen years ago, I started my law firm with my personal computer in a 175 square foot office with zero windows. I had no idea if it was raining until I stepped outside the building without an umbrella. Now I go to work each day in a nearly 3,000 square foot modern, glass enclosed and technologically well-equipped office with a few more than zero windows and a similarly styled office in Orlando, Florida. I have private investigators, a sentencing specialist and mental and physical health physicians at my disposal when it is necessary and advantageous for our clients. I have personally trained a team of lawyers that I feel are unlike any other criminal defense law firm�s lawyers. Unlike other area criminal defense law firms, each of my lawyers worked for me while they were law students. I trained each of them same way I was trained almost two decades ago. I was not easy on them because I learned a long time ago that the criminal justice system is not easy on you, our clients. Our lawyers are therefore smart, tough and aggressive.

We take what we do very seriously. We know the stakes. Therefore, we do not golf. We do not sail boats. We do not take long lunches or take early dinners. We do one thing and one thing only and that is we wake up each day very early and end each day very late with one goal and one purpose: defending your freedom.

Litigation Percentage

100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

Bar Admissions

Florida, 1998 Massachusetts, 1998 U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, 2002 U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, 2008 U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida, 2013 U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts, 2003 U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit, 2002 U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit, 2003 Supreme Court of the United States of America, 2010 U.S. District Court Western District of Texas, 2015

Published Works

"Strategies For Defending Identity Theft Cases", Aspatore, 2012

Representative Cases

Florida Bar v. Adam Filthaut (prominent trial attorney accused of DUI setup in Bubba/MJ trial) United States v. Jeanette Hevel (former Tampa Police Department Captain) United States v. John Wilson (former Washington Redskin NFL player) United States v. Rashia Wilson (IRS fraud) United States v. Robert Blango (notorious Fort Myers bank robber) United States v. Senad Djedovik (infamous Norwegian Cruse Lines employee) State of Florida v. Rougned Odor (current Texas Ranger MLB player) State of Florida v. Jerramy Stevens 1 (former Tampa Bay Buccaneer NFL player) State of Florida v. Jerramy Stevens 2 (former Tampa Bay Buccaneer NFL player) State of Florida v. Jerramy Stevens 3 (former Tampa Bay Buccaneer NFL player) State of Florida v. Matthew Buendia (former United States Marine charged with shooting a police officer) State of Florida v. Mary Lynn Vu (teacher accused of having sex with her student)

Classes/Seminars

Lecturer, Trial Advocacy Skills, Intensive Trial Advocacy Program (ITAP)

Professional Associations and Memberships

American Association for Justice, Member National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Member Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Member Florida Bar Association, Member Federal Bar Association, Member

Past Employment Positions

Office of the Miami-Dade County State Attorney

Languages

English (Primary) Spanish