About Dan Kapelovitz

Dan Kapelovitz is a Certified Criminal Law Specialist, certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization. Dan also teaches Criminal Procedure and Evidence at the People’s College of Law.

As an attorney, Dan Kapelovitz helps those who have found themselves caught up in the criminal justice system.

Dan Kapelovitz earned his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, and his law degree from UCLA School of Law, graduating in the top 10 of his class.

He was President of UCLA’s Animal Law Society, and a member of the UCLA Law Review. He volunteered for the California Innocence Project (defending Death Row prisoners with claims of actual innocence) and the Prisoner Re-Entry Legal Clinic. He worked on special circumstances murder cases and other criminal matters for the Los Angeles County Public Defender as part of UCLA’s Capital Punishment Clinic.

During law school, Dan interned at the Working People’s Law Center, where he helped obtain a new trial due to juror misconduct for a man who was falsely accused of murder.  He also served as a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Animal Protection Unit, working on animal abuse and neglect cases.

After graduating law school, Dan was an associate attorney at a large civil law firm, where he was the lead attorney on a successful asylum case, worked on a successful pro bono prisoner civil rights case, and litigated employment, Intellectual Property, entertainment, and other matters.

Dan then clerked for a federal judge for the United States District Court of the Central District of California.  Soon after his judicial clerkship, Dan opened his own firm representing criminal defendants. His firm also represents animal rights activists pro bono when they are charged with crimes related to their work helping animals.

Before becoming a lawyer, Dan had a successful career in journalism.  He was the Features Editor of Hustler Magazine, and wrote more than 100 articles for numerous publications, including the LA Weekly, OC Weekly, Bizarre Magazine, Men’s Edge, and more.  At Hustler Magazine, Dan won the Project Censored Award for his reporting on depleted uranium, and was the editorial point man for Larry Flynt’s First Amendment lawsuit against the Pentagon.