Mr. Hazen grew up in the metropolitan New York area. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in speech communication from Long Island University in 1967. After graduation he attended the State University of New York at Buffalo and earned both Master’s and Doctoral degrees in the study of the acoustical properties of human speech. His primary focus was in the area of speaker identification, then known as “Voiceprint Identification.” Mr. Hazen’s doctoral research cast doubt on the accuracy of voiceprints as evidence in courts of law. His research was published nationally and internationally. Consequently, attorneys who had cases where Voiceprints were to be introduced as evidence contacted him. This kindled his desire to study law. Mr. Hazen then enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1977.

After graduating from law school Mr. Hazen relocated to Atlanta. He began practicing law under the supervision of Al Horn, one of the Southeast’s preeminent criminal defense attorneys. In 1983 Mr. Hazen opened his own law practice, limited to criminal defense.