Meet Attorney Pilar Sample

Your Dedicated Immigration and Criminal Defense Attorney in Tucson

Since 1998, Pilar Sample has been providing aggressive, smart representation to clients throughout Pima County, Arizona. Her legal career started while in law school when she interned at Southern Arizona Legal Aid. There, she came face-to-face with everyday people facing some of the most difficult times of their lives. 

After graduating from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Pilar Sample started her legal career working under the guidance of Carl James in the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. For two years, she assisted in trial preparation for felony drug charges. 

Pilar Sample quickly learned that she missed the one-on-one interaction she had at the Southern Arizona Legal Aid. She soon joined the criminal defense team at Johnson & Johnson, Attorneys at Law, located in downtown Tucson, Arizona. She learned how to strategize and investigate. She fought allegations to get cases dismissed. When the facts demanded it, she negotiated hard to get favorable plea deals. In her spare time, she also offered pro bono immigration services with a focus on deportation cases. 

Five years later, wanting to put her criminal defense skills to the test and provide more comprehensive immigration services, Pilar Sample founded The Law Office of Pilar Sample. Now, she takes cases that other attorneys shy away from, and she wins. No matter how complex or bleak the case may seem, she finds a way to provide thorough, honest, aggressive representation.

Pilar's motto is this: Build on relationships. Sustained on success.

An Aggressive, Arizona Criminal Defense & Immigration Lawyer 

Whose Success Started with a Little Compassion

Pilar Sample understands how important it is to have someone represent them with passion and skill. Born to parents who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was seven years old, she remembers clearly how hard the transition was and how hard her parents had to work. It was only through the help of a family friend and lawyer that they became U.S. citizens. It was one of the proudest moments of her parents' lives.

From that moment on, Pilar knew she would dedicate her life to helping others who most need it.

This experience has led Pilar to do more. She is active in the Tucson community, working towards reform of both the immigration system and the criminal justice system. She knows it is through compassion that better systems are created.

Admissions

• Arizona, 1998

Associations

• State Bar of Arizona
  • Vice Chair, Immigration Law Section, 2019-2022
• Mexican American Bar Association
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Education

• JD, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, 1998
• BA, University of Arizona, 1994