Kansas City, MO personal injury attorney Jarrett Johnson talks about his background & experience, honors, and scholarly work. His early life was atypical. His birth mother struggled with a drug addiction, which she eventually overcame, but she placed him for adoption. He spent three months in an orphanage in Houston, Texas, before being adopted into a turbulent household marked by abuse, poverty, and constant cycles of divorce and remarriage. He left home just before turning 17. Having started working at 14, he supported himself through college and law school, ultimately moving from Texas to Missouri in 1990 to launch his legal career.

He began his career by handling appeals for indigent clients convicted of serious crimes. This work allowed him to review hundreds of trial transcripts, observe the behavior of judges, and analyze the effectiveness of various legal arguments. It also provided him with the opportunity to observe many trials before stepping into a courtroom himself. One significant achievement during this time was securing the reversal of a wrongful conviction for a man convicted of assault in a bar. This success prompted him to transfer to the trial division of the public defender’s office, where he quickly won several jury trials. By his late 20s, he was trying one murder case a month.

Thrown into the deep end, he gained invaluable experience in handling complex cases, dealing with the unpredictability of jury trials, and adjusting to the various approaches of different judges. Over the years, he chaired more than three dozen jury trials, including many murder cases in which he secured acquittals. After his youngest son was born, he left the public defender’s office in search of a higher-paying job and joined a prestigious law firm. However, he soon found that the environment stifled his potential. He was frustrated with being under the authority of another lawyer, especially since, in many cases, he had tried more cases than the people he worked for. In 2010, with support from his ex-in-laws—whom he regarded as the parents he never had—he ventured out on his own. He took on any case that came his way, which eventually led him to handle personal injury cases alongside his criminal work. He managed this balance for over a decade before teaming up with Jordy.

His success as a public defender, including numerous victories in murder cases, earned him an anonymous nomination for a prestigious award in Missouri, the highest recognition a trial lawyer can receive. The Law Hawker Memorial Trial Lawyer Award, presented annually in Kansas City since the 1950s, was bestowed upon him in his late 20s for his outstanding trial work. Receiving this recognition from judges and fellow lawyers he had long admired placed him among some of the most distinguished legal professionals, and he found it both humbling and affirming.

In addition to his practice, he has had the privilege of teaching in two significant capacities. He serves as a volunteer trial advocacy professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, where he teaches law students the practical skills of being a trial lawyer—skills often lacking in traditional academic settings. He is especially proud of his role as a mentor in the Trial Academy, run by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. In this program, he works with young lawyers—many from large firms with little courtroom experience—helping them tackle real case problems. He brings them into a courtroom and teaches them critical trial skills, such as jury selection, making an opening statement, and cross-examining challenging witnesses. Reflecting on his own early career, he feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to try numerous jury trials under challenging circumstances, and he remains deeply grateful for that experience.