ATTORNEYS
STEVEN ARMAMENTOS
PARTNER
Steven D. Armamentos is a 1984 graduate of DePaul University College of Law. Highly respected by judges and state's attorneys alike, he has 32 years of experience representing thousands of clients on a wide variety of criminal and traffic cases, including DUI, drug, theft, and battery charges, revoked and suspended license violations, and other felony and misdemeanor offenses. In addition, he represents clients before the Illinois Secretary of State's Department of Administrative Hearings in proceeedings seeking to regain driving privileges. Steve is a current or past member of various bar associations and other professional organizations including the Illinois State Bar Association, the DuPage, Will and Kane County Bar Associations, the Northwest Suburban Bar Association and the DuPage County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He also served as both the Chair and Vice Chair of the DuPage County Bar Association's Criminal Law Committee. Steve's accomplishments have been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. He has also authored articles for the DuPage County Bar Association's monthly magazine, The Brief.
For approximately the last 25 years, Steve has participated in the DuPage County Bar Association's annual fundraiser to benefit Legal Aid known as Judges' Nite in a variety of capacities, primarily as a guitarist for The Judges' Nite Band, as well as a leader of the band. He has also served as the show's musical director and at various times has been a writer, cast and crew member. In his spare time, he enjoys woodworking, designing and making a variety of items including art pieces, decorative boxes, coasters, cutting boards, ornaments and pieces of furniture. Some of his work can be seen on his website, Https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArmamentosWoodDesign. For the past few years, he has made a piece and donated it to the silent autction for the Judges' Nite Show.
JAMES STEED
PARTNER
After earning a degree in Business from Western Illinois University in 1994, Jim began clerking at the Dupage county Circuit Court Clerks office. He clerked for various Judges in the Misdemeanor and DUI rooms while attending Northern Illinois University College of Law. While in his third year of law school, he obtained his 711 license and began clerking for the DuPage County State Attorney. Upon graduating from NIU in December of 2000, and passing the bar exam in February 2001, Jim was sworn in as both an Attorney and as a Assistant State Attorney in May 2001. Starting out in the Misdemeanor Division as a second chair. In September 2001, Jim was promoted to first chair and placed in charge of one of the DUI rooms in DuPage. For the next 20 months, Jim prosecuted over 5000 DUI's, taking hundreds of cases to hearing or trial. Jim's next assignment was as the First Chair of a Jury Trial room, where he remained until his promotion to the Felony division in 2003. While in the Felony division, Jim worked in Felony Screening, and in a Felony Jury Trial room handling everything from Aggravated DUI's to Murder. Jim left the State Attorney's office in 2005 to focus on Criminal Defense and formed Armamentos and Steed with Steve in 2008.
BAR ADMISSIONS:
State of Illinois 2001, US Court of Appeals 2001
WORK EXPERIENCE:
DuPage County Clerk of the Circuit Court 1995-1998
Deputy Circuit Court Clerk
DuPage County State Attorney Office 2000-2005
Assistant State Attorney
Ramsell, Armamentos & Klis 2005-2008
Associate
Armamentos & Steed LLC 2008- Present
Partner
EDUCATION:
Western Illinois University BA Business Managment December 1994
Northern Illinois University College of Law Juris Doctor December 2000
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONSHIPS AND MEMBERSHIPS:
Illinois State Bar Association
DuPage County Bar Association
DuPage County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Illinois Super Lawyers 2006
Emerald Society of Illinois
Honors and Awards:
National Highway Traffic Safety Association, Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Practitioner Course April 2005
National College for DUI Defense Harvard Law School summer session 2007
Illinois State Police District 15 recognition award for teaching 3 day seminar to new Troopers regarding standardized field sobriety and courtroom demenor. April 2017