I grew up in Birmingham, MI. I am the youngest of eight children and attended an all-boys catholic school my whole life until I went to college at the University of Michigan. I went to night school at Detroit College of Law. My dad, my uncle, two of my brothers, and sister were lawyers. My first job was cutting lawns at age 10. I started working for my brother as a house painter at age 12. When I was 16 I started my own painting business and continued throughout high school, college, and law school, and a few years after until I was 32. I practiced criminal defense for eighteen years in Michigan until ten years ago when my roommate from the Trial Lawyers College, Nick Rowley, encouraged me to move to LA to become a PI lawyer. The California Bar took me four tries. I moved to Las Vegas this past March. I have recently taken up pickle ball, skiing and golf. I also think I'm competitive at connect four, backgammon, chess, and ping pong.
Bad Faith Cases
dec 2 - 6, 2025 / 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
dec 2 - 6, 2025
8:00 AM - 6:30 PM
About the bootcamp
Insurance bad faith cases aren’t about accidents. They’re about power imbalances and profit-driven misconduct by companies that promised to protect. Winning these cases means exposing institutional betrayal, simplifying complex standards, and persuading jurors to take action. You’ll work directly with Kimball Jones to develop every phase of your case: from case selection, discovery planning, and deposition strategy to voir dire, creative cross, and closing argument. Alongside that, Dan Ambrose will coach you in the trial performance skills that bring your case to life. Teaching you how to control your delivery, movement, and timing so your arguments are heard, felt, and believed. Together, they’ll help you align sharp litigation strategy with compelling courtroom presence to maximize the impact of your case.
testimonials
Doug Zanes
I believe that participating in the TLU bootcamps has been the single most beneficial investment that I have made in myself as a trial lawyer. It provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to work on everything from jury connection to storytelling within the courtroom and the confines of a case. I don't believe that the skills taught in this program are available anywhere else, and any lawyer who is serious about trial work MUST make this investment in yourself."
Przemek Lubecki
"This training will save you years of struggle and put you light years ahead of the defense. If you're open-minded about the role voir dire can play at trial and committed to doing the work it takes to get comfortable in the discomfort of training for trial, you may come out a different person and without question will leave a much better trial lawyer.”
What Strategies You Can Acquire From Kimball Jones:
Bad faith cases demand clarity, structure, and strategic storytelling. Kimball will walk you through the essential elements of building and trying these cases. Helping you simplify complex systems, anticipate defense tactics, and present your case in a way that motivates jurors to deliver justice. You’ll learn:
- Case Selection - Understand and identify cases with strong trial potential.
- Plead Strategically and Technically - Choose the optimal forum and causes of action, then build your complaint so it sticks.
- Documents that Drive the Story - Create discovery plans, prioritizing documents you can build your case around (claim file, policies, training, employment files).
- Deposition Planning and Execution - Identify the people and topics for deposition. Use the Sach Oliver method to lock down (1) principles, (2) facts, and (3) confessions/absurd denials.
- Identify the Villain - Framing your case around the right villain is a really big deal that is often forgotten.
- Voir Dire - Maximize credibility and identify juror bias on important issues while empowering your jurors to stand up to examination by insurance counsel.
- Opening and Order of Proof - Frame your case and obliterate the defense alibis. Then, leave no doubt with early witnesses.
- Creative Cross - Cross is a story--a mini summation. Every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Show the jury why they should be interested as you begin. Create a magical moment in the middle. End on a strong note.
- Close and Rebuttal Close - Close the deal by showing the jury the law and why your recommended course of action makes sense. Use the Mitnik method and motivate action in rebuttal close.
What Skills You Will Build With Dan Ambrose:
Dan will train and coach you on a system designed to elevate your courtroom presence, sharpen your delivery, and help you create lasting connection with jurors. We begin by working with a shared training case to develop a foundational standard for each performance skill. This creates consistency and clarity across the group, allowing you to recognize patterns, sharpen your delivery, and clearly understand how the techniques apply in any case.
From there, we'll transition to applying the same performance techniques to your own voir dire, opening, closing, and examinations so you leave with real-time improvements in the delivery of your actual case.
You’ll learn how to:
- Earn trust and attention from every juror in the box by building rapport through intentional eye contact and micro-connections that create one-on-one engagement.
- Make complex ideas feel clear and digestible by using controlled cadence, vocal modulation, and purposeful pauses that give jurors time to process.
- Reinforce your message without saying a word through deliberate hand gestures, glance control, and spatial storytelling that align with your narrative.
- Hold juror focus during high-pressure moments by managing your presence and physical stillness when crossing a corporate rep or presenting technical arguments.
- Project authority and credibility throughout trial by eliminating distracting habits and aligning your physical expression with the emotional tone of your case.
Bootcamp Preparation:
To make the most of your experience, each participant must come prepared with a case they are currently handling. TLU Bootcamps are interactive and hands-on. Your case will serve as the foundation for targeted strategy work, performance coaching, and live exercises.
All participants are required to:
- Attend six weekly Zoom meetings leading up to the in-person program
- Submit video recordings of yourself practicing trial components (e.g., opening, cross)
- Bring the case you will be working on during the Bootcamp
Case Materials Kimball Jones Requests:
In addition to the preparation above, Kimball Jones requests that each participant submit the following items specific to their bad faith case:
- A fact statement of the case you are bringing
- A chronology of correspondence and offers
- A statement by the attorney regarding their understanding of the potential causes of action
- The legal standard the attorney believes is required to prove those causes of action (statutes/case law/jury instructions)
Please submit these materials in advance of the in-person Bootcamp. Your full preparation will allow for deeper engagement, personalized coaching, and strategic breakthroughs throughout the week.
Your Instructors
Kimball Jones
Bighorn Law
