Personal
I enjoy meeting and helping people. That’s why I became a lawyer more than three decades ago.
I’ve spent most of my adult life practicing law, trying cases, and studying the art of communication. My interest in helping others began at an early age while growing up at the “Saddle and Surrey Guest Ranch” in Tucson, Arizona.
At the ranch, my family entertained guests from around the globe which included famous authors, politicians, athletes and a few celebrities including Walt Disney and John Wayne. I had the chance to observe how my parents communicated and interacted with the guests. I also got to watch our guests interact with each other. You could say that from an early age, I was tossed head first into the communication fire pit and quickly learned how to comfortably participate in a conversation by listening and adding value.
My family was active in promoting tourism in Arizona. My mother was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine and
my father served the community by being involved with numerous local and national organizations such as Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and most of the major Travel Associations. I grew up watching my folks doing commercials and being interviewed for one thing or another (my dad was even one of the cowboys in the old Winston cigarette ads).
I grew up riding horses, hunting and fishing. My friends and I would spend our weekends hiking and backpacking throughout Arizona and exploring old mine shafts deep beneath Old Tombstone and the surrounding area. It wasn’t unusual to find unique treasures during these adventures which included restoring and selling antique oar carts and playing around with 100 year old boxes of dynamite (don’t try this at home kids).
In high school my interest gravitated to motocross, scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez, playing football, a little baseball, and competing as a ranked tennis player throughout Arizona and California (I played #1 varsity as a freshman). I also learned how to hang glide and along with a good friend, became an expert (Hang 4) pilot.
After high school, I attended the University of Arizona and studied civil engineering for two years. My passion for business and marketing eventually led to me to transfer over to the business school and graduate with a degree in business administration. During college, I paid the bills by waiting tables and tending bar at the various restaurants in town. To this day I believe one of the reasons I’ve been able to achieve a bit of success trying cases is because of my experiences learning how to relate to and engage people as a waiter and bartender.
After graduating in 1980, I immediately took a front desk management position at Caesars in Lake Tahoe, California. My summers were spent sailboarding on the lake and competing in races all over Northern California. The beautiful winters included skiing all day and working the swing shift at night. While skiing, I was able to get to know several local lawyers and after hearing their stories, my early interest in law became a bit more focused and law school became my calling.
I attended and for the most part, put myself through Western State College of Law in Southern California. During this time, I clerked for many different lawyers and firms. While working as a law clerk for a personal injury lawyer, I quickly discovered that I wanted to use the law to help and protect injured consumers and their families who have been harmed by the wrongdoing of others. As things turned out, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing ever since.
I was admitted to the California Bar in 1986 and immediately opened up my own practice representing victims of personal injury and wrongful death. I met my wife Lisa Wilson in law school. She let her guard down for a moment and four years later we married. We enjoy working and practicing law together and our firm is “Jackson & Wilson, Inc.”. For the past three decades, we’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of thousands of people and their families.
Our daughter is a graduated with honors from UCLA and USC’s Gould School of Law and is a successful lawyer at Sheppard Mullin in Century City. Our son recently just graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and is a post-creative marketing and branding strategist at VaynerMedia in Los Angeles.
Outside of the Courtroom
I enjoy combining law, social media and technology to disrupt, hack, and improve my clients’ companies, causes, and professional relationships. Because of the results I consistently gets for my clients, I’ve been honored to be named a 2009 Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year and a 2013 California Litigation Lawyer of the Year.
When I’m not trying cases, I use digital, web3 and metaverse platforms to help good attorneys become great trial lawyers and to show everyone (not just lawyers) how to communicate and negotiate more persuasively and effectively. I’m an early adopter of live video and have spoken at the New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles Periscope Summits, and Social Media Day San Diego. A couple of memorable experiences include shows with Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, Seth Godin, Peter Diamandis, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
I enjoyed serving as a consulting expert to the book, “Shame Nation,” by Sue Scheff with a foreword by Monica Lewinsky. I’ve also been profiled in a dozen marketing books and for two straight years, shared the stage for two years with David Meerman Scott at Tony Robbins Business Mastery before thousands of people in the audience. Recently, I was a highlighted speaker at the CEX conference in Phoenix, Arizona, focusing on law in Web3 and the Metaverse.
I’m so impressed with the opportunities offered by digital and cloud based technology, including social media, Web3, the Metaverse and AI, that I’ve written several books on these topics. They include:
“The Web3, Metaverse and AI Handbook”
“From AI to Blockchain: 14 Technology Trends Every Lawyer Must Know!”
“The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Business Owners, Professionals and Entrepreneurs”
See more on Amazon.
Several years ago, I also created the popular LegalMinds Mastermind. In this community, we share and crowdsource the best social and digital relationship building tools and approaches available to professionals and business owners. As you can see from the testimonials, it’s been a big hit with the legal community.
Because of my interest in digital technology, and expertise as a litigator, I was honored to be asked to be a contributing consulting expert to the California State Bar’s “Effective Introduction of Evidence in California- Chapter 54 Electronic and Social Media Evidence.”
Testimonials about our law firm and results are below. Testimonials and recommendations about my digital entrepreneur expertise and brand are here.
Law
In 2013 I was honored to receive the prestigious California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award for litigation. According to California Lawyer Magazine, the CLAY Award recognizes attorneys who have changed the law, substantially influenced public policy or the profession, or achieved a remarkable victory for a client or for the public and have made a profound impact on the law. Here’s a picture from the event with the California Supreme Court Chief Justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye.
In 2009, I was also humbled to be named an Orange County “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA provided the above video) for my results in a challenging wrongful death jury trial. In 2011 and 2013, I was again nominated for OCTLA “Trial Lawyer of the Year” and in 2011, nominated for the Consumer Attorneys of California for the “CAOC Street Fighter of the Year” award.
My firm is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, an exclusive listing reserved for less than 5% of all distinguished law practices in the United States. Several earlier recognitions include being named as a “Southern California Super Lawyer” and an ability rating of 10.0 or Superb by the AVVO lawyer rating system.
Both Lisa and I truly enjoy helping people (read testimonials from clients and other lawyers) and that’s why we became trial lawyers. Since 1986, I’ve been able to obtain numerous multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements for my clients. I’m also a multiple time member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (membership limited to those attorneys having obtained million dollar plus verdicts and settlements). In the past, I served as a Judge Pro Tem and mediator with the Orange County Superior Court. I also was a fee mediator for the Orange County Bar Association.
When I’m not trying cases, I enjoy sharing law, business and tech tips with my community. Subject to my availability, I’m active or have been active in various local and national legal communities including the Orange County Bar Association, Orange County Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, American Bar Association, American Association for Justice, and National Trial Lawyers Association.
Outside of the courtroom, I enjoy family, friends, paddle boarding and running. As a fourth generation Rotarian, I also helped start our local Rotary International club (Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Club) in 1988 and served as President 94-95; Past Assist District Governor and Rotary Interact Chair for two years.
Past and present activities, organizations, and recognitions include the following:
- Started my own law firm in 1986
- Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year (2009)
- 2013 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY Award for Litigation)
- Southern California Super Lawyer (annually)
- “AV” Rated by Martindale-Hubbell (top rating in ethics and ability)
- Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (less than 5% of all firms)
- Approximately 70 jury trials
- AVVO “Superb” 10.0/10 rating
- Recently selected at one of the “Top Lawyers in California”
- Nominated: Consumer Attorneys of California for the “CAOC Street Fighter of the Year” award (2011)
- Nominated: California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award (2012)
- Nominated: Recorder Trial Lawyer of the Year
- Law Dragon- “Top Rating”
- Judge Pro Tempore- Orange County Superior Court
- Appointed Arbitrator/Mediator- Orange County Bar Association
- Appointed Arbitrator/Mediator- Orange County Superior Court
- Private Arbitrator and Mediator
- Orange County Bar Association
- Orange County Trial Lawyers Association
- American Association for Justice
- The National Trial Lawyers (composed of The Top 100 Trial Lawyers from each state)
- California State Bar Association (Business, Tort and Litigation)
- American Bar Association (Business, Tort, Criminal, Litigation, Real
- Property, Probate and Trust Law- Asset Protection Planning Sections)
- Consumer Attorneys of California
- LinkedOC Advisory Board Member
- Multiple time member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum (obtained multiple verdicts and settlements in excess of $1,000,000)
- Successfully passed written exam offered by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) for Trial Attorney Certification (qualifications- extensive trial experience, formal recommendation by numerous opposing trial counsel and trial judges)
- Past President of Monarch Beach Rotary Club and Paul Harris Fellow. Mitch has also served as an Assistant District Rotary Governor for Rotary District 5320. In 2010, he was nominated by his club for the award of “Business Rotarian of the Year”
- Daily Journal Profile- Mr. Jackson’s litigation talents, techniques and wrongful death trial verdict profiled in the July 28, 1995, edition of the California Daily Journal
- Admitted to the California and U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit and U.S. District Court and Central District of California.
- Expert Witness- Legal Malpractice
- Testimonials and Recommendations from clients, lawyers, and experts from around the world
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One of my favorite quotes… “…trial by jury…the only anchor ever yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution….” –Thomas Jefferson