Contact

Joshua Price

Defending Rights Law Center, Inc.

4025 Camino Del Rio South, Suite 300

San Diego, CA 92108

Office: 619-542-7714

Cell: 619-846-2235

joshuajprice@defendingrights.com

“In most cases a DUI is victimless. Unless there is an accident that involves property damage or injury to another person, there is no victim. A guy gets pulled over and says, ‘I’m cooked. Just get me the best deal you can. I’m going to take the heat and bite the bullet by pleading guilty.’ That’s not a smart move and that’s not why people pay me to handle their case. They pay me to turn over every stone to make sure that the government does their job; if the government doesn’t do their job, that’s where I step in to make sure the rights of the individual person are represented,” says Joshua J. Price, founder and Managing Attorney of Defending Rights Law Center.

Price says even an apparently simple, open-and-shut DUI case can be a complex matter requiring the aggressive skills of an experienced DUI attorney. For example, the government doesn’t always draw blood according to accepted medical practices. That could be a fourth amendment violation and the blood may be subject to suppression. Additionally, the government may not always use the correct methods when testing blood in a lab. He cites a case in which the government left a client’s blood sample on a gas chromatograph that tests the blood overnight, a matter not included in their one-page report and which could have been disastrous for his client.

In those cases when the government dots their I’s and crosses their T’s, there’s nothing an attorney can do other than mitigate and walk the client through the process. That process can be very confusing with numerous gray areas, not only with the Department of Motor Vehicles on one side, but in the criminal court on the other side. There are ways to win at DMV that you cannot win with in criminal court and ways to win in criminal court that you cannot use to win at DMV. “That’s why I treat each case as if it is my own butt on the line. I obtain every piece of relevant evidence for a reason. There are cases where I’ve pulled gold out of garbage and have gotten a case dismissed. People pay me to dig and look. I look at every single item and that’s why our record is so stellar. No one fights harder for their clients,” Price says.

Clients agree. I was arrested for DUI without any accident on my birthday which was the first offense of my life. Submitted to FST, refused PAS, but did blood test with a 0.11 BAC result. My attorney wasn’t able to negotiate a plea offer from the DA, so I ended up going to trial. I’m an RN so my professional license was on the line. My attorney brought Josh on as co-council for my trial. I immediately began to understand why this was. From the beginning, Josh was compelling and charismatic. He was there for every minute of the 7-day trial which ended up dragging on much longer than expected. He knew how to cross-examine the toxicologists and crime lab specialists and he was always prepared. The jury deliberated for another two days and then declared that they were officially hung. Was declared a mistrial and eventually got a wet-reckless plea deal, which I accepted. My only regret is that I didn’t hire him from the beginning. I’m thankful to have had him represent me!

Backed by more than 10 years of DUI experience, Price has defended more than 2000 DUI cases and has saved more than 100 driver’s licenses.

“I personally believe every single type of DUI case can be won. The problem is a lot of lawyers get overwhelmed by complexities of these cases and give up fast. But I make sure to fight my best for each case and leave no stone unturned to get the best results possible for my clients,” says Price.

A Working-Class Background Builds a Strong Work Ethic

“I grew up in a working-class family in a working-class neighborhood and early on realized that law enforcement officers can abuse their power. I felt like the government in general had too much power and could just stamp out the accused too easily. I felt as if maybe I could help leverage the powers that be and even the playing field a bit. I wanted to defend the injustices in the world and make a difference in people’s lives for the better,” Price says.

His father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather worked in the trades from the welder’s union to mechanical insulator’s union. Price paid his way through college, working as much as he could on top of going to school. Even in law school he worked two to three jobs and took out loans to keep enrolled. “I thought I could work a couple of jobs and go to law school full-time too, no problem. It didn’t work out that way. I had to drop down to part time in law school to avoid failing classes because I could not afford not to work. I worked restaurant jobs from bartending to serving tables and I substitute taught K-12 in San Diego Unified School District—whatever it took.”

Price graduated from San Diego State with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in social work. He earned his J.D from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He is a first-generation college graduate.

Although initially an unpleasant experience in career development, a downturn in the economy proved to be a boon for the young attorney. He had held on to the image of his dream job working for the Public Defender’s office. During his time in law school, he was involved in criminal defense work through his internships with the San Diego County Alternate Public Defender. The dream job was put on hold. He continued to wait tables until an opportunity arrived and he began working at a DUI law firm. Using his foundation of general criminal defense concepts, he was able to hit the ground running in defending against DUI-related allegations.

“I jumped at the opportunity and have not looked back. I was able to grow my own DUI practice while handling another firm’s DUI clients. I did this for about a year before moving to take over another law firm’s DUI clients while still being able to grow my own practice. Finally, in 2015, my own firm was too busy, and I stopped taking any other firms’ cases.” Today he works with a full-time paralegal and a part-time assistant.

Making Sure There Are No Victims in Victimless Crimes

Most DUI cases do not involve property damage, injury, or death, so there is really no victim in those instances. Some people may not be guilty of what they are accused of and others may have just messed up. “I am not dealing with hard core criminals that I cannot look in the eye, let alone defend them. One of my main goals is to make sure that the driver does not himself become a victim of government overreach,” Price says.

One client wrote, I was found NOT GUILTY after a four-day jury trial! After I was being charged with a DUI, .28/.27 portable breath test and .30 blood test. In which I was EXTREMELY happy about, since I never drove my car that day and my cousin was the one who was driving when my car broke down. Not only did we win the week-long trial, we won the DMV case before that. I never lost my license and never had to pay any money to DMV, Chula Vista Courts or Chula Vista Police Department.

Defending Rights Law Center, Inc. is a full-service firm. Price handles all their hearings and does not farm out cases to other attorneys. He and his team handle everything from pre-trial hearings, motions, trials, DMV hearings and appeals.

Price says, “Our firm’s typical client is someone similar to people I know and can connect with on some level—usually a good person who is hard working and often times has a family. That is what makes most DUI cases easy to get behind, as it is not illegal per se to drink and drive, or smoke marijuana and drive, or take prescription medication and then drive a vehicle. It is only unlawful if you are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs or at or above a .08 percent blood or breath alcohol level. The key to success is to not take anything for granted and put the same concentrated effort into every client’s case.” 

That commitment and attention to detail attracts referrals from other firms and attorneys throughout the state. For example, just before Covid19 hit, Price obtained a not guilty verdict on two counts of DUI on a .14/.13 breath alcohol case where their client was stopped at the border and detained by Border Patrol before being tested and arrested by CHP. “It is always an honor when another attorney sends us a client and it is humbling and flattering. We also pride ourselves in paying referral fees to other attorneys.”

Continuing Education and Training to Continue Winning

Price says that continuing education and training is key to keeping up with changes and trends in the law and the legal community. He backs his beliefs with action.

He has gone through the same training as law enforcement officers when it comes to Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. He attended a three-day, 24-hour training and testing to become qualified in administration of these tests pursuant to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

He attended a two-day, 16-hour, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) training where he learned more advanced techniques and testing that law enforcement use to try to detect drugs other than alcohol in DUI investigations.

He attended a five-day, (more than 40 hours of training) at Shimadzu Laboratory at University of Texas, Arlington. The Serious Science Blood Drug Analysis course combined hard science and trial advocacy. He learned the basics of metrology, blood alcohol and the more complex blood drug analyses, and got hands-on experience preparing and analyzing samples of blood for detection of various drugs. 

Typically, he attends 20-30 CLE’s a year related to DUI training.

He is a specialist member of California DUI Lawyers Association (CDLA). To achieve that status, an attorney must have handled a specific number of DUI trials to verdict along with several appeals and some other requirements. He was voted to the Board of Directors for the Association in 2017. In January he was elected the President of CDLA for 2021.

“To say being elected as President of California DUI Lawyers Association (CDLA) is an honor and a privilege is a vast understatement. I truly stand on the shoulders of giants in the field of DUI Defense, and I am thankful for the opportunity to lead such a phenomenal organization. It is this organization that taught me DUI Defense and equipped me with the tools necessary to competently represent people accused of DUI. It’s one of many extensions of my commitment to level that playing field,” Price says.

Experience

» Education

• Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.
• B.A. in Psychology (minor in social work) San Diego State 
• J.D.—Thomas Jefferson School of Law

» Honors/Awards/Certifications

• SFST Qualified
• ARIDE Qualified
• Shimadzu Training
• National Top 100 Trial Lawyers
• Super Lawyers 2017−2021

» Organizations/Memberships

• State Bar of California
• President of CDLA
• Board of Directors member CDLA
• Member National College of DUI Defense (NCDD)
• Member Driving Under the Influence Defense Lawyer’s Association (DUIDLA)
• Member San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association
• Member BBB

» Family/Interests

• Married five years to Alicia Price
• Two children: Braylon James Price (2 1/2) and Kaeden Carter Price (1)
• Avid soccer player, mountain biker, and snowboarder
• Writes a monthly article entitled “CrimPro” for North County Lawyer Magazine, a publication by the North County Bar Association