About Jonathan
Jonathan grew up in Los Angeles. The son of parents immersed in law: an attorney father , a mother who founded the Constitutional Rights Foundation (which has provided legal education and mock trial experience to tens of thousands of students) and a stepfather who was executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Jonathan was steeped in law. He attended the Thacher School on an academic scholarship. Jonathan received an academic scholarship to Reed College. He worked his way through Law School by teaching tennis and driving a taxi.
From 1982 through 1985, Jonathan practiced business and entertainment litigation in Century City with firms whose clients included: Cary Grant, Tom Selleck, Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson. He won his first civil trial. Despite having been lost three times by by three different attorneys who failed to visit the scene, Jonathan was the only attorney who did so and discovered evidence which helped win the trial. Though civil work was not as boring as law school had been, Jonathan longed for the rough and tumble of the courtroom.
From 1985 through 1990, Jonathan was a Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender. He was one of very few attorneys promoted by merit to a felony III attorney within three years. As a Deputy PD he was appointed on thousands of cases trying 30 misdemeanor cases while maintaining a case load of over 200. After being promoted to felonies, Jonathan won his first murder case as well as successfully defending his felony clients in trial more than two thirds of the time. The high case loads and frequent trials taught Jonathan how to handle busy calendar and navigate a courtroom.
For the next three years, Jonathan was a prosecutor with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. In a one-year period, he prosecuted 32 trials which offered an extraordinary opportunity to hone his trial skills. Jonathan went undefeated in his last twelve trials as a prosecutor. Prosecuting not only taught him how to assemble and argue cases, but also provided the equally important perspective on how to negotiate the best possible offer.
In 1993, Jonathan established his own firm specializing in criminal and mental health law. He has won 2/3 of his 175 trials. Jonathan has tried over twenty-five murder cases and a similar number of sex crime, gang and drug cases. He has avoided convictions in 75% of his last twenty trials. Despite being the most difficult cases to defend, in his last eleven gang murder trials, Jonathan’s clients have only suffered two convictions.
Jonathan is one of a very few attorneys with expertise in both mental health and criminal law trials having successfully tried Sexually Violent Predator (SVP), Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity and Mentally Disordered Offenders’ cases. He has won all four of his Restoration of Sanity trials. In light of his extensive experience in the mental health field, Jonathan is frequently appointed by the mental health court to handle SVP, NGI, 2970, 6600, 6500, MDSO and MDO cases. Recently Judge O” Connell appointed him to assist the court as an expert in evaluating a defendant’s mental competence. Jonathan works regularly with and receives referrals from prominent forensic psychiatrists and psychologists throughout Southern California.
