Joseph P. St. Louis

Joseph P. St. Louis is the Managing Partner at St. LouisHuffman Law, Arizona's premier DUI and Criminal Defense Law Firm. Mr. St. Louis is certified as a specialist in both criminal law (by the State Bar of Arizona, 2000-present) and in in DUI defense law by the National College for DUI Defense (as recognized by the American Bar Association, 2012-present). 

Mr. St. Louis has received extensive recognition from his colleagues for his successful track record and superb ethics.  He has an AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®, and has been listed in Woodward/White's Best Lawyers in America in the DUI specialty area since 2013. He has been named to the Best Lawyers in Arizona and New Mexico by Super Lawyers magazine in the DUI specialty area since 2009, and was named one of the Best Lawyers in Tucson in the DUI specialty area by Tucson Lifestyle Magazine.

Mr. St. Louis is one of twelve members of the governing board of the National College for DUI Defense, the Board of Regents. The NCDD has over 1,400 members nationwide. Mr. St. Louis is also the past president of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a statewide defense organization with over 400 members. In 2003, at the request of the then-presiding chief judge of the Pima County Justice Courts, Mr. St. Louis served as a part-time Justice of the Peace. In 2013, Mr. St. Louis was one of four lawyers who litigated a 17-day hearing in the Maricopa County Superior Court challenging the manner in which blood testing is performed in the Scottsdale City Crime Laboratory. The hearing resulted in the judge suppressing all blood evidence in 11 felony cases, after finding the results to be unreliable.

Mr. St. Louis is a frequent speaker on legal issues, and has spoken on a variety of legal topics at legal education seminars sponsored by a variety of State Bar and Defense Attorney organizations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Mr. St. Louis is a graduate of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Student Course on Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, NHTSA’s Instructor Course on Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, and the American Chemical Society’s Forensic Chromatography Course.

Mr. St. Louis has represented clients accused of crimes in over 200 jury trials during his career. The types of charges that he has handled include not only DUI offenses, including felony cases involving aggravated assault, manslaughter and second degree murder charges, but sex offenses, drug offenses, white collar offenses, and violent crimes. Mr. St. Louis has extensive experience with death penalty cases in both state and federal court, and in two consecutive first-degree murder trials he was able to get all murder charges dismissed by the judge. Mr. St. Louis has an extensive pre-trial motion practice, which has resulted in the dismissal of charges for many of his clients.  He has also successfully negotiated favorable plea agreements with the prosecution for a number of clients.

Mr. St. Louis majored in political science at The University of Arizona and received a Bachelor of Arts with departmental honors in 1984. His legal education was obtained at the University of Arizona College of Law, and he was awarded his Juris Doctor in 1987. A past president of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Mr. St. Louis is a life member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.