Attorney - Criminal Law

Jeff Armendariz has been exclusively practicing criminal law for over 16 years.

He graduated from Long Beach State in 1989, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. Prior to his senior year in college, he was a legal intern for the Voting Section of the United States Justice Department in Washington, D.C. After undergraduate studies, he attended law school at the University of San Diego. He graduated in 1993, earning a Juris Doctorate. While in law school, he worked as a law clerk in both the Juvenile Division and Gang Unit of the San Diego District Attorney’s Office.

During this clerkship, he decided to practice criminal law, subsequently after passing the California Bar exam in 1994, he was hired by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office as a Deputy District Attorney. As a prosecutor, he handled a variety of criminal cases including assault and battery, driving under the influence, drug possession, petty and grand theft, hit & run, and weapons charges. He also prosecuted county code enforcement cases and pursued asset forfeiture in drug sales cases.

In 1998, he opened his private practice “The Law Offices of Jeffrey Armendariz”. While handling a variety of criminal cases throughout Southern and Central California, his caseload is centered in Northern Los Angeles County with a focus in the Antelope Valley, San Fernando Valley, and Santa Clarita Valley.

He appears almost daily before the Santa Clarita Superior Court, and therefore, has the greatest familiarity with the manner in which criminal case are handled there. Consequently, he enjoys an especially positive reputation within the Santa Clarita legal community.

Living and practicing law in the Santa Clarita Valley has enabled him to participate in many worthwhile community activities and local organizations such as the Santa Clarita Valley Business Group. Since 1999, Jeff has been a bench officer (judge) in the Santa Clarita Teen Court program. Teen Court is a diversion-based program offering local youths who commit relatively low-level offenses an opportunity to have their cases dismissed. Dismissal occurs after a youth has served a 6-month term of probation and fulfilling certain requirements such as community service and completion of various programs related to the crime committed. The program is administered by the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Department and City of Santa Clarita.