David Clark Jones

MH: Hello, I'm Mike Hackard; I'm the chair of Hackard Law, a law firm focusing on estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation in California's major urban areas. This is Hackard Law's podcast, It Starts Here. This is a July 2017 podcast featuring Dave Jones, one of the senior litigators at Hackard Law. We are going to discuss how we approach capacity issues in the California superior courts. Welcome, Dave.
DJ: Hi, glad to be here.
MH: Glad that you are here. So let's just start with a little background, like where were you born?
DJ: I was born here in Sacramento, actually.
MH: Okay, and where did you go to school?
DJ: Well, I went locally, to the El Camino High School, and then went off to UCLA.
MH: All right, so local boy through and through. After college, what kind of work did you engage in?
DJ: Well, I did a bunch of different things; eventually, I ended up in IT work doing consulting for companies across the country, and traveled around and did that, and eventually decided to go to law school.
MH: Okay, and what made you decide to go to law school?
DJ: Well it was seeing you; actually I was working for you back in the day in the IT field, and seeing what you were doing with the pharmaceutical litigation, I thought "Sounds pretty fun," and decided to apply to law school, got in, and got a pretty good deal out of it, so I went.
MH: All right. I remember you got a full ride, didn't you, into law school?
DJ: Yeah, all my tuition was paid for. All I had to do was maintain a 3.0. It seemed really easy, and so I took it.
MH: Not bad. So I'll ask, is it still fun?
DJ: Oh, yeah, it's still fun. Yeah. Getting paid to argue - oh yeah.
MH: So what was your first job after law school in the law?
DJ: I got into the public defender's office in Tulare County.
MH: Okay, did that give you an opportunity to try cases?
DJ: Oh, yeah.
MH: And jury cases?
DJ: They were all jury trials, and I was doing them within a couple months of being hired.

What are the major differences between a jury trial and a bench trial by a judge in California estate, probate, and trust litigation? Why can a jury trial be advantageous to wronged beneficiaries in cases of elder financial abuse or undue influence? Hackard Law trial attorney Dave Jones explains:

How do trial attorneys talk to a jury selected for a trust litigation or elder financial abuse civil case in the California Superior Court system? Dave Jones, a Hackard Law trial lawyer experienced in estate, trust, and probate litigation, explains how he talks to the jury during the different phases of a trial:

Read more: http://www.hackardlaw.com/blog/2017/03/attorney-jury-ca-trust-litigation-elder-financial-abuse.shtml