Practice Areas · Orange County Criminal Defense
Find the right path forward.
Start with the legal problem you are facing. Focused paths help distinguish criminal allegations, license proceedings, protective orders, and record relief.
Choose a practice area
A focused path for each kind of problem.
Start with the problem type, then confirm whether the question is criminal court, driver-license administration, civil order posture, or record relief.
Criminal allegations
Begin with the conduct alleged, the filed charge, and the current court posture.
- DUIStandard and felony DUI posture, prior history, and the DMV action beside it.
- Domestic ViolenceHousehold or relationship accusations, protective orders, and communication terms.
- Sex CrimesDiscreet review of the exact allegation, charged statute, and registration questions.
- Assault, Battery & Violent CrimeCharge labels, alleged conduct, and injury-enhancement distinctions.
- Drug CrimesPossession and trafficking-style allegations, the charged statute, and the evidence behind it.
- Weapons & CCWPossession, carrying, licensing, location, and transport questions.
Orders, records & licensing
These paths may run beside a criminal case or address relief after it.
- DMV & APS HearingsThe administrative driver-license hearing that runs on its own track beside a DUI case.
- Restraining OrdersRequesting or responding to civil orders, temporary terms, and criminal-order overlap.
- Expungements & Post-Conviction ReliefCalifornia record cleaning and post-conviction review for convictions and arrests.
Not sure which path applies?
Bring the overlap into a private conversation instead of trying to diagnose it alone.
What this hub covers
The legal track matters.
California criminal cases commonly involve filing, arraignment, and pretrial activity. Some JOS pages focus on filed criminal allegations; others address separate DMV license action, restraining-order posture, or record-cleaning relief after a case history already exists.
- Filing
- A criminal case generally begins when the prosecutor files charges describing the alleged conduct and whether it is treated as a misdemeanor or a felony. An arrest or an investigation, on its own, is not yet a filed court case.
- Arraignment
- The arraignment is typically the first courtroom step: the court states the charges, the person enters a plea, and questions about release conditions can be addressed.
- Pretrial
- Between arraignment and any trial, the case moves through pretrial activity — evidence exchange, motions, and hearings — and many criminal cases are resolved during this stage.
Not every problem on this hub is a filed criminal case. A DMV or APS hearing is an administrative action about a driver's license, a restraining order is a civil order with its own hearing posture, and expungement asks a court for relief on a record that already exists. Each track answers different questions than criminal court, which is why the pages here stay separate.
Sources:California Courts criminal court overviewThe arraignmentPretrial activities
Before you choose a route
Start with the posture, not the shorthand.
- What if more than one practice area fits?
- Overlap is common. A DUI may raise both court and DMV issues, and a domestic matter may involve criminal protective orders plus civil restraining-order papers. Start with the most urgent track, then discuss the overlap with counsel.
- What stages can a criminal case include?
- California Courts describes a criminal case as moving through steps such as filing, arraignment, pretrial activity, and trial. The page you choose should match the current posture, not only the charge label.
- What can I discuss in a consultation?
- You can discuss the alleged conduct, court posture, driver-license action, order terms, record-cleaning goal, and any source materials that may affect strategy. The website stays general; counsel reviews your facts privately.
Orange County, California
The right door can start with one careful conversation.
Tell us how to reach you and which practice path seems closest. A member of the JOS Criminal Law team will follow up about your consultation request.