For your eyes only · New lawyers and associates

You don't need more years.
You need someone who has already been there.

Put a confidential, AV-rated trial lawyer in your corner. 2009 Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year and 2013 California Litigation Lawyer of the Year- Ask anything. Pressure-test every move before it lands on your partner's desk. Grow faster than the years alone would ever let you.

Jon Mitchell "Mitch" Jackson, Esq.  ·  40 years + 70+ trials to verdict (most are jury trials) with 96% win percentage  ·  "Top AV" rating in ability/ethics, Martindale-Hubbell  ·  Southern California Super Lawyer  ·  Judge Pro Tem, Orange County  ·  Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Let me be straight with you

Nobody actually teaches you how to practice law.

Law school taught you to think. It did not teach you what to do when a real case lands on your desk and a real client or senior partner is counting on you.

You learned the rule against perpetuities. You never learned how to read the room in a mediation, how to frame a motion so the judge wants to grant it, or how to walk into your partner's office with work that makes them trust you with more.

So you do what every new lawyer does. You guess. You stay late. You hope the senior associate has five minutes. You send the motion and wait to find out, in front of everyone, whether you got it right.

There is a faster way. It is the same way the best lawyers have always gotten good. They had someone in their corner who had already made the mistakes for them.

Talent gets you in the door. A mentor who has tried 70 cases gets you to partner.

The part no one warns you about

Every rookie mistake has a price. You just pay it later.

A blown deadline. A discovery response that hands the other side your case. A settlement you took because you did not know what the file was really worth. A trial strategy that felt right and fell apart in front of a jury.

You will survive these. Most lawyers do. But each one costs you something that compounds: a client's outcome, a partner's confidence, and months of the reputation you are trying to build right now in your first few years, when people are deciding who you are.

Here is the hard truth. The lawyers who pull ahead are rarely the smartest in the room. They are the ones who stopped trying to figure it out alone.

You can learn it the slow way, one painful case at a time. Or you can borrow four decades of it on demand.
Introducing

Top Secret Partner

A confidential relationship with a veteran trial lawyer who works quietly in your corner, on your terms, whenever you need an answer.

I founded my trial firm in 1986. I have tried more than 70 cases to verdict, served as a Judge Pro Tem and a private mediator, and spent close to four decades learning what actually works when the stakes are real. I built Top Secret Partner to hand that experience to you directly.

Here is the difference, and it matters. I am not a course. I am not a forum full of strangers. I am one experienced lawyer you can reach by phone, text, email, WhatsApp, Signal or any other method that works for both of us, who has very likely already handled the exact issue keeping you up tonight.

You do the work. You make the call. You stay counsel of record on your own matters. I help you see around the corner before you commit, so the work you put your name on is sharper, cleaner, and more confident than anything you would have produced alone.

Who is in your corner

You are not borrowing advice from a stranger.

When you reach out, you reach a trial lawyer whose record and recognitions are a matter of public record. This is the experience working behind the scenes for you.

0170+ cases tried to verdict since founding the firm in 1986
02"AV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the top rating for skill and ethics
03Southern California Super Lawyer
04Member, Million Dollar Advocates Forum
05Judge Pro Tempore, Orange County Superior Court
06Appointed Arbitrator, OC Bar Association and Settlement Mediator with the Superior Court
07Private Arbitrator and Mediator
08Keynote Speaker and Author Hundres of presentations and 14 books including topics on AI, Negotiation and more

I have also spent the last several years teaching lawyers how to pair this experience with modern tools, including authoring several books on leading with AI in the profession. You get the courtroom judgment and the way I work today.


What membership puts in your hands

Everything below, each year, for less than half a day of billiable hours.

This is what you reach for the moment a question hits. No scheduling a meeting. No reinventing the legal wheel. You ask, I answer, you move.

Membership File · ItemizedEst. Value
Direct line to a veteran trial lawyer
Phone, text, email, whatever. Real answers to your real questions, from pre-suit investigation through appeal.
Priceless
Case strategy sounding board
Talk through pleadings, discovery, law and motion, arbitration, mediation, and trial before you commit to an approach.
Priceless
Pre-flight review of your work product
Pressure-test a motion, demand, or strategy with me before it ever reaches your partner. Walk in with polished, not half-finished. I'm not going to prepare documents for you but I will discuss strategy.
Priceless
The "what actually works" playbook
Negotiation, settlement, and trial techniques I have perfected over four decades, including avoiding rookie mistakes to never make.
Priceless
My vetted resource shortlist
The experts, services, and tools that perform, and the ones that waste your money. I have already paid to find out.
Priceless
Strict confidentiality and conflict screening
I never disclose who is in the program. Conflicts are screened the way a mediator or arbitrator would, so your matters stay protected.
Mandatory
If you bought this by the hour $7,500-$10,000/mo

One avoided mistake. One better settlement. One motion that lands. Any single one pays for a year.

Your investment

Less than the cost of one mistake.

$3K / year
Quality and experience in the palm of your hand.
I value our respective reputations and will not let you down.

You will deal with me directly. I will contact you once you are approved.

My promise to you

I'll be here for you. It's that simple.

Stipulated · In Writing

My Promise To You

Here is my promise to you. From the day you join, you stop carrying the hard cases alone. You get me in your corner for the full year, a direct line to someone who has already handled what is coming at you, and you can lean on it as hard as you need. I review every application myself, so the lawyers in this program are people I choose to work with and commit to. A year is not a trial. It is the time it takes to actually change how you practice, and I will be there for all of it. You already know what going it alone costs you. This is the right call, and the lawyer you become a year from now will know it.

One honest limit

I keep the roster small on purpose.

The value of this program is that I actually answer you. That only works if I am not stretched across hundreds of members. I cap membership so I can stay genuinely responsive to every lawyer in the program. When the roster is full, new applications wait for an opening.

If a spot is open today, take it.


Before you decide

The questions every serious lawyer asks.

Is this ethical for me to use? +

Yes. Lawyers consult more experienced lawyers constantly. That is how the profession has always worked. You remain counsel of record on your matters, you exercise your own independent judgment, and you make every decision. Nothing in this program creates an attorney-client relationship with your clients or replaces your professional responsibility. I am a confidential resource, the same way a seasoned colleague down the hall would be.

How do you handle conflicts of interest? +

Carefully and the same way a mediator or arbitrator does. I screen for real and potential conflicts before we engage on a particular matter, and I never disclose who is in the program. If a conflict exists, I tell you and we handle it appropriately. Your matters and your participation stay confidential.

How fast will you actually respond? +

Quickly, because I keep the roster small for exactly this reason. For most questions a phone call or email gets you an answer the same day, if not within minutes or hours. For anything urgent, reach out and tell me it is urgent. Responsiveness is the whole point of the program.

What does it cost and how do I pay? +

Membership is $3K per year, billed automatically.

Who is this for, and who is it not for? +

It is for new lawyers, associates, and attorneys early in their careers who want a senior trial lawyer in their corner and are ready to put the advice to work. It's also for a seasoned lawyer opening up a new division or practice area. It is not for someone looking to outsource their thinking or skip doing the work. You still do the work and build the skill. I just help you build it years faster.

What kinds of issues can I bring you? +

Anything across the life of a case: pre-lawsuit investigation, pleading strategy, discovery, law and motion, arbitration, mediation, settlement, trial, and appeal. Bring me the strategy questions (my favorite), the judgment calls, and the moments where you wish you had someone experienced to ask.

Decision time

Five years from now, you will be glad you stopped guessing.

You can keep figuring it out one hard case at a time. Or you can put four decades of settlement, litigation and trial experience in your corner today, for less than you bill in an hour, with the risk entirely on me.

Get started right now. If a spot is open, you're application will go through and payment processed. I will review your new membership and reach out personally to welcome you in.