Jessica M. Hernandez, Founding Attorney
Something has happened, and you are trying to figure out what to do next. Jessica Hernandez will sit down with you, in English or in Spanish, and walk you through what your situation actually is and what your options actually are. No script. No jargon.
Jessica Hernandez opened JMH Law Group so that the person you first talk to is the person who actually handles your case. From the first phone call to the last court date, she is the one who reads the file, shows up to the hearings, and picks up the phone when you have a question.
She practices in Arizona and works with clients across the Phoenix metro and statewide. Every case gets the same starting point. She listens to what happened, tells you what she sees, and lays out the realistic paths forward in plain language.
"Every case starts with a real conversation, not a transaction. Cafecito, my treat."
Se habla español. Jessica is proud to serve Arizona's Spanish-speaking families. No one who walks through her door has to explain their own case through a stranger.
Jessica focuses her practice on the situations Arizona families most often need real help with. Each area is one conversation away. The first one is on her.
The answers below are general information, not legal advice for your specific case.
A charge is not a verdict. Jessica handles DUI and traffic charges, assault and domestic violence, drug possession, theft, probation violations, and felony matters in Maricopa County Superior Court and courts across the state. The first call is a real conversation about the paperwork you have, the court you are in, and what a realistic path forward looks like.
You should be focused on healing, not fighting an insurance adjuster. Jessica takes on car and truck collisions, motorcycle and pedestrian injuries, dog bites, slip-and-fall injuries, wrongful death claims, and insurance bad-faith disputes. She builds the fullest picture of what happened, what it cost you, and what it will keep costing you, then negotiates from that position.
If the Arizona Department of Child Safety has opened a case, or removed a child from your home, the clock is already running and what you say in the first few days matters. Jessica represents parents through dependency proceedings in Maricopa County Juvenile Court. She goes to every hearing, works with you on the case plan, and pushes back in writing when the state's version does not match the family in front of her.
Both. Arizona orders of protection and injunctions against harassment can be issued quickly, sometimes on only one side of the story. Jessica represents both petitioners who need protection kept in place and respondents who need an inaccurate order challenged. Either way, the hearing goes better when someone in the room actually knows how these hearings work.
Juvenile court in Arizona follows different rules and has different outcomes on the table than adult court. What lands on a young person's record now can follow them into college applications and background checks for years. Jessica represents children and teenagers at intake, advisory, adjudication, and disposition, and helps families understand what shows up on the record and what can be set aside later.
If you want more than the short version, here is what each of these areas actually looks like in Arizona, and what Jessica actually does when someone walks in with one of them.
A charge is not a verdict. When the state files paperwork against you, everything can feel like it has already been decided. It hasn't. There is a process, and there are important choices to be made. Jessica's job is to walk into that process with you, understand the case the state is actually trying to make, and put you in the strongest possible position to answer it.
In Arizona, criminal charges land in three different courts. Municipal courts handle city ordinance matters. Justice courts handle lower-level misdemeanors. Superior Court handles felonies. Jessica appears in all of them, across Maricopa County and statewide. Whether you are facing a first-time DUI in Scottsdale, a domestic violence charge in a justice court, or an aggravated assault indictment in Superior Court, the first conversation is the same. She listens. She looks at what the state has. She tells you what she sees, in plain language, and what the realistic paths forward look like.
When someone else's carelessness leaves you hurt, the last thing you should be doing is fighting with an adjuster while your body is trying to heal. Personal injury law exists so that the person or company responsible for your injury pays for your medical care, your lost wages, and what you have been put through. Not you.
Jessica handles Phoenix and Arizona car and truck collisions, motorcycle and pedestrian injuries, dog bites, and slip, trip, and premises injuries. She also takes on wrongful death claims for families who have lost someone. Her job is to build the fullest possible picture of what happened, what it cost you, and what it will continue to cost you. Then she negotiates with the insurance company from that position. If they will not offer what your case is actually worth, she is prepared to file suit.
When a minor is accused of a crime in Arizona, the case does not go to adult criminal court. It goes to juvenile court, which follows different rules, uses different words, and has very different outcomes on the table. What lands on a young person's record now can follow them into college applications, job interviews, and background checks for years.
Jessica represents children and teenagers at every stage. Intake. Advisory. Adjudication. Disposition. She talks to the child. She talks to the parents. She works to keep options open, whether that is a diversion program, a plea to a lesser matter, or fighting the charge outright. And when a case is over, she helps families understand what shows up on the record and what can be set aside later. Being a kid should not be a life sentence.
If the Arizona Department of Child Safety has opened a case on your family, or removed a child from your home, the fear is unlike anything else. You are being told that the state has concerns about your parenting, and the clock is already running. What you say in the first few days, and what your attorney says on your behalf, matters enormously.
Jessica represents parents in dependency proceedings in Maricopa County Juvenile Court. She works with you on the case plan, the visitations, and the services the court is asking for. And she responds in writing and in court when the state's version of events does not match the family she is sitting with. The goal is always the same. Get you and your child back on the same side of the door.
An order of protection or injunction against harassment is a court order that limits contact between two people. In Arizona, these orders can be issued quickly, sometimes based on only one side of the story. That means both people involved need someone who knows how these hearings actually work.
Jessica represents both petitioners and respondents. If you need protection from someone who is threatening you or a family member, she will help you file the right kind of order and prepare the evidence to keep it in place. If you have been served with an order that you believe is inaccurate or unfair, she will represent you at the contested hearing and work to have it modified or dismissed. Either way, she treats these cases with the care they deserve. Because whatever brought you here, it is not a small thing.
You will leave every conversation understanding what is happening, what the choices are, and what Jessica actually thinks. Not just what you might want to hear. If she cannot explain something clearly, she will not recommend it.
Every hearing gets prepared for like it is the one that decides the case. Nobody walks into a courtroom wondering whether Jessica has actually looked at the file.
Some days you need advice. Some days you just need someone to pick up the phone. Jessica does both, for as long as your case takes.
Every first conversation is free, confidential, and directly with Jessica. Tell her what is going on, even if you are not sure what to call it, and she will help you figure out what comes next.
Send Jessica a message