Experience

Jennifer Maldonado has over 15 years of litigation experience in Arizona, including as a federal criminal prosecutor, a Pima County criminal prosecutor, a private criminal defense lawyer, and now a civil litigator since 2018. Jennifer has completed over 60 jury trials, several hundred bench trials, and hundreds more substantive evidentiary and legal hearings in wide variety of criminal cases including DUI, drug trafficking, firearms offenses, alien smuggling, domestic violence related offenses, and more. She now utilizes this strong litigation background in her civil litigation practice, including real estate litigation, construction litigation, employment law litigation, contract litigation, and a number of other civil and business-related litigation and transactional areas. Jennifer’s long history in the criminal law arena also enables her to assist the firm’s clients and their families with criminal and traffic matters that may arise.

In addition to her many years of in-court practice of law, Jennifer served as a judicial law clerk for a trial judge in Pima County, served as a teaching assistant for legal research and writing courses at the University of Arizona College of Law, and she earned the “Outstanding Oral Advocate” award for her moot court performance in law school in 1996. Jennifer has also owned and operated her own small business (1-3 employees) for several years, worked in a human resources training and investigation capacity for a large department of Pima County government (1500 employees) for five years, and worked as the human resources manager for a local company with multiple locations and over 100 employees.

Jennifer’s variety of experiences form a multi-faceted background from which she can successfully represent her client’s interests. Whether advocating for the prosecution or the criminal defendant, for the business owner or the employee, for the real estate buyer or the seller, for the construction contractor or the homeowner, Jennifer is committed to fully understanding her client’s position and desired outcome, empathizing with her client’s feelings about the dispute, anticipating the opponent’s position, and then fully preparing her case for success. Assisting clients in understanding the litigation process is also critical to Jennifer’s practice. She strongly believes it is a legal practitioner’s duty to meet the client where they are: less sophisticated or less experienced clients need more explanation of the logistics of the legal process and the legal standards that apply to their matter than does a more sophisticated business client with past experience in legal disputes and litigation. Jennifer’s experience working with people from many different backgrounds enables her to communicate well with a wide variety of clients, and evaluate what each individual client truly needs from her. Above all, no matter who she is representing, Jennifer’s goal is to not only obtain the best possible result, but also to relieve some of the stress of the legal process from her client’s shoulders. Allowing her clients divert their focus away from the litigation, secure in knowing that their matter is being taken care of by an experienced and dedicated professional, enables her clients to focus on the other important aspects of their lives.

Memberships

• State Bar of Arizona
• Pima County Bar Association
• Arizona Women Lawyers Association
• Society for Human Resource Management of Greater Tucson