Top Criminal Defense Lawyers in San Diego | 76 available

76 Criminal Defense lawyers are available in San Diego, California, including Abel Galvan, Allen R. Bloom, Ben-Thomas Hamilton, and Brian J. White. These lawyers are rated between 4.3/5 to 4.7/5 and 52% provide free consultation.

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Abel Galvan

3990 9th Ave , San Diego , California 92103

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense, Speeding Ticket

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“I have been a client of Mr. Ticket for over 15 years now, and I have only positive reviews of his staff and the attorneys that represent his firm! Thi...Heather”

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Allen R. Bloom

Firm: Allen R. Bloom

550 West C Street 1670 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Appellate ,Criminal Defense ,Drug Crimes,Felonies,Juvenile ,Parole and Probation,Sexual Abuse,White Collar Crime

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“This is a felony case with IST (incompetent to stand trial) situation. At the end, we got everything that we wanted, and my wife did not spend any ...”

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TOP 10 Criminal Defense San Diego, California

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Frank J. Polek

West Broadway , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Business ,Civil ,Criminal Defense ,White Collar Crime

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“What a class act! Not just a phenomenal Attorney, Frank Polek is an outstanding human being. Mr. Polek successfully represented me in a case that wa...”

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Google Review

“Frank Polek is a outstanding attorney who displays the highest level of expertise, ethics and compassion in dealing with clients facing highly stressful legal situations. He takes …”

— Toni Smith

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Francis Rowland Pabst

4025 Camilo Del Rio South, Ste. 300 , San Diego , California 92108

Practice Areas: Personal Injury, Criminal Defense

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Francis J. Bardsley

Firm: Bardsley and Carlos, LLP

424 F Street A , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense

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Eugene G. Iredale

Firm: Eugene G. Iredale

105 West "F" Street Fourth Floor 9 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Civil ,Criminal Defense ,Felonies

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“Mr. Iredale and Ms Yoo make an outstanding team. They are excellent attorneys who care about their clients and are willing to go beyond what one would expect from a legal team. As …”

— Kathy Bils

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Erik H Zentz

550 W C Street, Suite 600 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense, DUI & DWI, Personal Injury

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Earll M. Pott

Firm: Coughlan, Semmer and Lipman, LLP

West Broadway , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Business ,Criminal Defense

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“Earll was an overall excellent lawyer. His responsiveness and attentiveness to my requests was very timely. The professionalism he displayed always ma...”

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Dorn G. Bishop

Firm: The Law Offices of Dorn G. Bishop, A.P.C.

701 B Street 1000 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Corporate ,Criminal Defense ,Environmental ,Insurance

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“Dorn is highly recommended. Dorn is very knowledgeable, responsive, and understands my needs.”

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№ 1 Criminal Defense San Diego, California

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Dod Ghassemkhani

Firm: DOD LAW

303 A Street , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense

AWARD-WINNING TRIAL ATTORNEY. Named TRIAL LAWYER OF THE YEAR, Attorney Dod of DOD LAW can be best described as a-------- FIGHTER. Known for his passion and tenacious litigation skills Dod has the results to prove it. One of his greatest accomplishments during his 20+ year career are 3 STRAIGHT NOT GUILTY verdicts on felony cases including an all out ACQUITTAL on a client looking at 25-life. Dod has sucessfully taken numerous felony and misdmeanor cases to jury trial including murder, rape,child mollest, stabbing, DUI, vehicle theft, drug offenses, workmans comp fraud, lewd act in public, resisting arrest, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and many many more. See Dod's case results in the case results section.. In 2023 Attorney Dod was named Trial Lawyer OI the Year for winning a Murder case where his client was facing 50-Life and an Attempted Premedicated Murder cae.

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“I am a professional. I wasted money on a law group to the toon of 40,000. They did nothing. Dod took”

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Lawyers.com Review

“I tried a case against Mr. Ghassemkhani a few years ago as a Deputy District Attorney. His tenacity and creativity in the courtroom resulted in a full acquittal for his client, in …”

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David H. Bartick

Firm: David H. Bartick

West Broadway , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense

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Dacely Garcia

424 F Street A , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Appellate ,Criminal Defense

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“With all true honesty the best lawyer I've ever met and hired. This is my story. I found Ms. Garcia online. I dont even know how I ended up in her off...Belen Cervantes Ayudo con m…”

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Google Review

“Hands down the best attorney I have ever met! She not only did what she said she would do, she did it pro-bono, and still handled my case as if she had been on retainer. Her attent…”

— Ronnie Lungelow

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Charles L. Goldberg

Firm: Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, A Law Corporation

2100 Symphony Towers 750 B Street , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Civil ,Criminal Defense

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TOP 10 Criminal Defense San Diego, California

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Brian J. White

Firm: Brian J. White

4320 Iowa Street , San Diego , California 92104

Practice Areas: Assault & Battery,Consumer Fraud,Criminal Defense ,Domestic Violence,Drug Crimes,DUI/DWI,Felonies,Juvenile

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G. Cole Casey

Firm: San Diego DUI Attorney Center

2550 Fifth Aevenue , San Diego , California 92103

Practice Areas: Appellate ,Automobile Accidents,Criminal Defense ,DUI/DWI,Felonies,Juvenile ,Misdemeanors,Motor Vehicle Accidents,Motorcycle Accidents,Traffic Violations

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“Thank you for helping me with my case, I have never had anything like this happen to me and you were able to get me a fantastic outcome.”

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Domenic J. Lombardo

Firm: Law Offices of Domenic J. Lombardo

1202 Kettner Boulevard 4200 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense

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“Of the attorneys emailed through AVVO, he responded within hours on a Saturday and followed up on a Sunday! Gave a knowledgeable opinion on the initia...”

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Courtney Kay Cutter

451 A St Ste 900 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense

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Charles L. Rees

Firm: Law Offices of Charles L. Rees

444 West C Street 330 , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Assault & Battery,Criminal Defense ,Drug Crimes,DUI/DWI,Felonies,Juvenile ,Parole and Probation,White Collar Crime

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Brian Mccarthy

Suite 2202, 110 West "C" Street , San Diego , California 92101

Practice Areas: Criminal Defense, Constitutional, Administrative Law, Appeals

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Ben-Thomas Hamilton

Firm: Garrison & McInnis, LLP

2650 Camino Del Rio North 108 , San Diego , California 92108

Practice Areas: Business & Commercial,Business Organizations,Criminal Defense ,Estate Planning,Personal Injury,Probate ,Professional Malpractice,Real Estate

Criminal Defense Lawyers Nearby San Diego (by distance)

Within 1 mile near you

San Diego, California ZIP 92101 0.0 mi away 69 lawyers

Within 5 miles near you

San Diego, California ZIP 92108 4.8 mi away 9 lawyers

Within 10 miles near you

Chula Vista, California ZIP 91910 9.0 mi away 7 lawyers

Within 25 miles near you

El Cajon, California ZIP 92020 13.7 mi away 3 lawyers Solana Beach, California ZIP 92075 19.9 mi away 2 lawyers

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Recent Q&As in California (Criminal Defense)

I got arrested while released (long story) and got charged with another crime will it violate my release requirements | Aug 31, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: Sacramento California So for context I do a lot of political work with orgs and I got arrested for stuff that happened at a ICE protest I got federal charges do to it (since DHS is federal law enforcement) and part of my release on recognizance was I was not allowed to violate and federal local or state laws I was recently arrested and charged for an incident at the nick Shirley event in Sacramento where I got into a fight with one of the attendees and I was charged with battery I talked to my lawyer and she said since Ive only been charged that I should be fine but my parents are claiming that she isn't telling the fully truth so I want your advice
Charged with a hit and run after the 911 dispatcher told me to leave the scene. What do I do? | Aug 29, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: California In December 2025, while sitting at a red light, some crazy lady walked up to my truck and started kicking it, which scared me. I panicked and accidentally put my truck into reverse and hit a lady that had just pulled up behind me. The lady started cussing, yelling, and screaming. I tried to calm her down and told her that everything will be ok and that’s what we have insurance for. I told her to take down my information, and I also asked for hers, which she refused to give me. She was making the whole situation even worse because she wouldn’t stop screaming, so I called 911. I explained to the operator what was going on, and I told the dispatcher that the lady was refusing to give me any information. The dispatcher told me to take photos of her license plate, which I did, and I also told the lady to take photos of my license plate as well. Then the dispatcher told me to go home and a deputy would be out shortly to take my statement at my residence. Instead of someone coming to my house, I received a phone call 5 hours later from an officer yelling at me, saying that the lady I hit was still at the scene and that I took off after hitting her. She went after my insurance and also sued for physical damages. I thought this was already over with and settled, but on August 28th,…
Being charged with felon in possession of a firearm for a firearm I knew nothing about in a car that’s not mine | Aug 27, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: California. So about 2 months ago now i was using my buddies vehicle who has a concealed carry license. The car is in his name because it belongs to him. The firearm was in a hidden safe in the bottom of the center console. I guess it was a false bottom. The safe had a biometric fingerprint type thing to gain access to the items inside as well as a PIN code, which I didn’t/don't know. So when I got pulled over it was for window tints. I am searchable because I’m on PRCS for felon in possession of a firearm, which I understand looks bad in this scenario. However it is what it is. I can’t change the past and for this charge right here I am an innocent man in the sense that it's not my firearm and I had no knowledge of the thing being in the car. So when they searched the vehicle they did a real thorough search and after like an hour of sitting in the cop car they came to me and asked me what the code was for the safe. I was confused at first and when they made it clear what they were asking, I told them I don’t know anything about any safe anywhere. So they explain that on the safe, which is hidden at the bottom of the center console, theres a biometric unlock and a keypad to gain access, as well as a physical key, which I…
Dismissing sales personnel after 90 day probationary period ends. Company not paying bonuses / commissions for customer contracts signed during 90 days. | Aug 27, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Recently let go after 90 day probationary completed, outside salaried sales position with additional money to be paid for securing signed contracts from new customers. Company committed to pay a % of the sales upon completion of the work at these locations Jobs at new locations can take weeks or months to complete and for the all the costs to reconciled before money is paid out to sales personnel. Typically not a problem if your going to stay and be hired on. It seems that predatory hiring and firing of sales staff is not unusual for this company and have located several others who were also let go after landing contracts and upon completion of their probationary period. No reason given for dismissal No mention of additional money owed ? Has this company found a loophole in the system whereby they are able to keep the commissions for jobs? How are these moneys reported and accounted for ? Is the money due kept by the owner? At some point they had to account for the expenditures of each of these jobs is the money used to offset the labor cost for probationary employees ?. is this something I should pursue ? is it a class action suit because of additional persons ? with whom should I speak ? Location: California
Misdemeanor charges dismissed, changed to administrative citation. Does it still show up as an arrest during background checks? | Aug 2, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: California Hi! I was recently arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for unlawful assembly. I recently got a notice from the City Police dept. saying it was dismissed and replaced with an Administrative Citation, which is apparently a lower-level offense like an infraction -- civil, not criminal. Only thing to do is pay a fine. My question is, is this something I still need to get expunged? Like will an arrest still show up on a background check for private company employers? Not sure how downgraded charges work. I was basically detained, never fingerprinted/mugshot etc. but the original ticket was for a misdemeanor. I'd appreciate any help, thanks!

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California Statutes — Criminal Defense

Penal Code: defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

Browse the full California Penal Code →

Official government statute text, reproduced for reference — not legal advice. For your situation, consult a licensed attorney.

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