Patrick Buelna

PATRICK BUELNA was born and raised in Healdsburg, California. Buelna lost both his parents at a young age, and after a brief period in the state custody was placed in his sister’s care and custody to finish high school.

Later, he would go on to graduate from St. Mary’s College of California with high honors. Before law school, Mr. Buelna spent a year living at an orphanage in Brazil teaching kids. Next, he entered the Teach For America program and taught at a public school in the Bronx, New York. From there, he went on to attend U.C. Hastings College of the Law and graduated with honors.
Ever the hard worker, Buelna clerked at the Law Offices of John Burris while he was still in law school. Pointer and he joined forces and began working together to secure justice on behalf of victims of police abuse.

After completing law school, Buelna quickly earned a reputation for being a passionate, determined, and accomplished attorney. Buelna has won a number of civil jury trials and managed to secure multi-million dollar jury verdicts and settlements for the clients he represents.

Buelna won a $21 Million verdict in a federal jury trial in 2022 against the Fremont Police Department for the officer shooting of Elena Mondragon. He won a $6 Million verdict in 2021 against the San Jose Police Department for officers striking a man with a police car that was running away.

Buelna has secured the highest settlements in police abuse cases from San Francisco, Sacramento, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, City of Vallejo, San Mateo County and San Joaquin County. He also succeeded in winning and defending appeals in the Ninth Circuit.

In 2023, Buelna was selected as a Rising Star by SuperLawyers which is awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys. Buelna has spoken at Stanford Law School and U.C. Hastings Law School regarding civil rights trials and strategy.

Buelna has dedicated his life to serving his communities inside and outside the courtroom. In particular, Buelna is a proud Apache and works pro bono as often as possible for the native community.