About MRM Law
Built for
the Modern Defense.
MRM Law, APC is a Southern California boutique civil defense firm built to provide public entities, law enforcement agencies and personnel, public officials, employers, and institutional clients with high-caliber representation in complex California state and federal litigation.
The Firm
The modern lawsuit against a public entity or law enforcement agency rarely exists in isolation. A single matter can implicate constitutional claims, individual officers and public officials, employment decisions, departmental policy, training and supervision, public records, expert testimony, institutional operations, and significant financial and reputational exposure.
MRM Law was built for that reality.
Our attorneys approach the defense as more than a series of pleadings, depositions, and court appearances. We work alongside the people responsible for the institution and its defense—understanding the underlying incident, developing the factual record, preparing the witnesses who will tell it, identifying the legal issues that can narrow or resolve the case, and building a strategy that accounts for both the litigation and the client's broader institutional interests.
From the initial assessment of a claim through discovery, critical witness and executive-command preparation, expert development, dispositive motion practice, pretrial strategy, and trial, MRM Law approaches the case as a whole. We believe the strongest defense is developed deliberately, with each stage of the litigation informing the next.
The Model
High-Caliber Advocacy.
Boutique by Design.
MRM Law was founded on a straightforward principle: significant public-sector litigation deserves sophisticated representation without sacrificing accessibility, responsiveness, or direct attorney involvement.
Our boutique structure is intentional. It allows our attorneys to remain close to the matters we defend and to the people making consequential decisions within them. We seek to understand not simply what happened in a case, but the policies, personnel, operational realities, and institutional considerations surrounding it.
That perspective is particularly important in the defense of public entities and law enforcement. The attorney defending the lawsuit must understand the legal claims—but also the environment in which the underlying decisions were made.
We do both.
The Principles Behind the Practice
Preparation
Exceptional advocacy begins long before an attorney enters the courtroom. We develop the factual record deliberately, prepare witnesses carefully, scrutinize the evidence, and identify the issues capable of changing the trajectory of a case. Preparation is not a phase of litigation. It is the foundation of the defense.
Judgment
Effective defense requires knowing not only how to litigate an issue, but when and why. Not every issue should be litigated the same way. We evaluate what matters, what does not, when an issue should be pressed, and how litigation decisions affect the client's broader objectives. Strategy should be purposeful—not reflexive.
Integration
The strongest defense considers the case as a whole. Discovery affects testimony. Testimony affects dispositive motions. Institutional policies can affect Monell theories. Personnel decisions may become evidence years after they are made. Our attorneys do not approach these issues in isolation. We build the defense with an understanding of how the pieces interact.
Responsiveness
Our clients make important decisions in real time. Public entities, law enforcement agencies, and institutional clients need counsel who are accessible, prepared, and capable of providing meaningful guidance when an issue arises—not simply reporting on it afterward. MRM Law prioritizes direct communication and meaningful attorney involvement throughout the representation.
Tenacity
Complex civil defense demands persistence. Significant litigation can last years. It can involve difficult facts, evolving legal theories, extensive discovery, numerous witnesses, experts, and substantial institutional consequences. MRM Law brings discipline and determination to the defense from beginning to end.
Advocacy
Preparation ultimately has a purpose: effective advocacy. Whether the issue is presented through written motion practice, deposition testimony, oral argument, mediation, or before a jury, our attorneys work to present the client's position with clarity, credibility, and command of the record.
Experience That Informs the Firm
Built on substantive defense experience developed before the firm was founded.
MRM Law's approach was shaped by Marlena R. Mlynarska's experience before founding the firm, including years defending the Orange County Sheriff's Department, its personnel, and other public entities in significant civil litigation.
That experience includes federal civil-rights litigation arising from officer-involved shootings, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims, use-of-force allegations, Bane Act claims, wrongful-death theories, Monell liability, individual officer claims, dispositive motion practice, federal jury-trial proceedings, and appellate proceedings before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
It also includes litigation in which the consequences extend beyond the individual lawsuit—requiring coordination with public agencies, law enforcement personnel, executive command, institutional witnesses, and the attorneys and professionals responsible for protecting the public entity's broader interests.
That experience became part of the foundation for MRM Law.
Modern Litigation
Built for
Today's Litigation.
The environment in which public entities and law enforcement are defended has changed. The defense must evolve with it.
Technology has transformed discovery. Video evidence has changed police-liability litigation. Electronic records have reshaped employment cases. Public scrutiny can develop alongside the lawsuit. Federal civil-rights litigation can require examination not only of an individual incident, but of policy, training, supervision, institutional history, and the evidentiary record surrounding them.
Modern litigation requires a modern defense. MRM Law combines sophisticated legal analysis with meticulous factual development, strategic motion practice, careful witness preparation, and courtroom advocacy.
The firm embraces modern litigation tools when they improve the representation—but technology does not replace attorney judgment, preparation, or advocacy.
Our objective is not simply to react to litigation. It is to understand the case early, develop the record deliberately, identify the issues that matter, and build the defense with purpose.
Who We Represent
Public Entities
Cities, counties, special districts, public agencies, and other governmental entities.
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement agencies, officers, deputies, command personnel, and other public-safety professionals.
Public Officials
Public officials and employees facing claims arising from the performance of their public duties.
Public-Sector Employers
Public employers facing FEHA, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, disciplinary, and related employment claims.
Institutional Clients
Organizations requiring sophisticated civil defense representation in significant California litigation.
What We Defend
MRM Law, APC
Boutique by design.
Sophisticated by practice.
Built for modern civil defense.
Newport Beach
Based in Newport Beach. Representing Clients Across California.
MRM Law, APC is headquartered in Newport Beach, California. From our Southern California office, the firm represents public entities, law enforcement agencies and personnel, public officials, employers, and institutional clients in civil litigation in California state and federal courts.
Our Newport Beach location provides a central base for a statewide practice while preserving the accessibility, responsiveness, and direct attorney involvement that define MRM Law's model.
Contact
Discuss
a matter.
For inquiries regarding representation in civil litigation involving public entities, law enforcement, or institutional clients, contact MRM Law.