Terrence Jones is a seasoned trial lawyer with 15 years of experience trying and winning difficult cases – in both civil and criminal matters. Unlike a lot of attorneys, Terrence didn’t start his legal career at a big firm, making big money, yet toiling away on only the smallest of menial tasks. Terrence began his career at the highest level – trying cases in federal court on behalf of the federal government as a federal prosecutor and U.S. Department of Justice civil litigator. In fact, Terrence has the unique honor of being the first person ever hired directly out of law school by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, the seat of the most populous federal district in the country. During Terrence’s near decade-long tenure with DOJ, he also had the unique honor of serving in both the Civil Division and Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, receiving a multitude of commendations from the myriad federal agencies he represented, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Forest Service, and the Transportation Security Administration.
Thus, the breadth of Terrence’s foundational experience as an attorney was expansive. On the civil side, Terrence litigated and tried cases ranging from civil rights, to employment, to medical malpractice, to catastrophic collisions, to wildfire suppression. On the criminal side, Terrence litigated and tried cases ranging from financial fraud, to narcotics and weapons trafficking, to healthcare fraud, to violent and hate crime.
Today, given the breadth of his DOJ experience, the nature of Terrence’s private practice is just as wide-ranging and has the same degree of civil and criminal intersectionality. Terrence continues to take on – and take to trial – cases spanning white collar criminal defense, civil rights and constitutional violations, healthcare fraud, trade secret theft, and employment litigation. Terrence even became the first lawyer in the country to take to trial the criminal prosecution of a drone operator, for whom he achieved a complete acquittal. This scope and depth are emblematic of a skill that Terrence sharpened at the U.S. Attorney’s Office: the ability to confront a practice area, to learn it from scratch if need be, master it, and then take it to trial and win.
Having begun his career with the Department of Justice, that principle – the pursuit of justice – is Terence’s enduring guidepost. Whether his client is an individual or an entity, Terrence is unrelenting in his effort to ensure that those who have been victimized or wrongly accused are vindicated. What’s more, having begun his career standing up in courtrooms in front of juries, that purpose – as a trial lawyer – is Terrence’s true passion. Fundamentally, Terrence believes that one cannot truly purport to “specialize” in a particular practice area unless you’ve actually taken it all the way to trial, which Terrence has done with repeated success throughout his career.
Terrence is consistently recognized by his peers for his contributions in and out of the courtroom. He was named one of California’s “Top 40 Under 40” attorneys by the Daily Journal and has received annual recognition for achieving amongst the highest results, statewide, in civil rights cases. Terrence is a longtime board member of the John M. Langston Bar Association, committed to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, particularly for Black attorneys. Terrence is also a faculty member for the Gerry Spence Method, teaching trial advocacy skills to other attorneys at the Thunderhead Ranch in Wyoming.
Terrence received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, where he was President of the Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY) and a member of the Kingsley Trust Association. Terrence received his law degree from Loyola Law School, where he was a member of the national championship Byrne Mock Trial Team.
Education
Yale University, B.A.
Loyola Law School, J.D.
Admissions
State Bar of California
State Bar of New York
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Awards & Honors
Named one of the “Top 40 Under 40” lawyers in California by the Daily Journal
Recipient of multiple awards and letters of commendation from federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Forest Service, and the Transportation Security Administration
Recipient of multiple President’s Awards from the John M. Langston Bar Association
