James Dunn

 San Mateo criminal defense attorney James Dunn has always enjoyed arguing for a client to a jury of their peers. At this point, Mr. Dunn has tried over one hundred criminal case jury trials. Although the great majority of cases are resolved by settlement negotiations or dismissed on motions, it is still the jury trial that is the centerpiece of the justice system, Dunn’s firm enjoys a strong negotiating position because the firm’s founder James Dunn is ready, willing and able to go to the mat.  

Mr. Dunn speaks from the heart, fueled by the overall truth, his client's circumstances and the underlying nuances of the law, when addressing the Jury. Mr. Dunn stands by that philosophy in every type of case that he handles, whether it’s a simple first DUI, or a DUI with injury which is a felony, whether a petty theft, a domestic violence trial or allegations of sexual assault with life-long registration under Penal Code § 290. Mr. Dunn has won victories on writs and appeals in the Superior Court, at the California Court of Appeals, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, including Brenner v. DMV((2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 365), a matter affirmed by the California Supreme Court that changed the law in favor of the arrested driver.

Mr. Dunn is a leader in DUI education through MCLE programs. A graduate of Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, he is admitted to practice in all courts in the state of California, the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the National Police Accountability Project, he attended the National College for DUI Defense in 2005 held on the campus of Harvard University.