ANGELA L. VELEZ is a senior associate at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP and is a member of the Employment and Labor Practice Group. She has over 10 years of experience with the New Jersey Department of Education and New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

As a Deputy Attorney General, Ms. Velez represented the Department of Education and State universities in complex legal matters in federal and state administrative, trial, and appellate court spanning state and federal education and civil rights laws. In addition to education law, her work included defending federal and state claims of employment discrimination and investigating and pursuing charges of professional misconduct against school professionals and campus police. Ms. Velez was also counsel to a State university on employment, contracting, and institutional liability, and to the Department on the Interdistrict School Choice Program and the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.

At the Department of Education, Ms. Velez worked in the Division of Finance and Business Services, where she was responsible for all legal and regulatory matters involving the distribution of state aid and school business operations. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, she was the primary liaison between the Division and the Attorney General’s Office, providing guidance and expertise on ongoing litigation. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served on a four-person team responsible for overseeing the Department’s response to the public health emergency, which included providing guidance on the Governor’s Executive Orders and implementing the CARES Act, CRRSA Act, and ARP Act. Most recently, she directed the Office of State Monitors, who oversee business and personnel decisions at school districts in fiscal distress, and implemented the $500 million Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act which funds school security, water infrastructure, and career and technical education improvements. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Velez clerked for the Honorable James Den Uyl in the New Jersey Superior Court.

Ms. Velez joined the Junior League of Philadelphia in 2016, which is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Ms. Velez currently serves as Treasurer-Elect. In the past, she served on the Finance Committee, the Nominating Committee (responsible for vetting the League’s leadership), and the Food to Families Committee (organizing volunteers to make an impact on food insecurity in Philadelphia).

Ms. Velez is a graduate of The University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was a member of senior staff on the North Carolina Journal of International Law, an officer in the Disability Law Organization, and worked with local non-profits in the Community Development Law Clinic. Ms. Velez earned her B.A. in Music and Economics from the University of Delaware.