Email: jtrissell@limandri.com

 

LEGAL CAREER

Mr. Trissell is a senior civil litigator with numerous wins in both state and federal court. The majority of his practice is in high-profile constitutional law cases. Most prominently, he served on the legal teams that secured the victories in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 141 S. Ct. 716 (2021), and Mirabelli v. Bonta, 607 U.S. 492 (2026). He is the also author of Unlocking the Churches: The Legal Victory Against California’s Pandemic-Era Religious Discrimination (Crisis Publications, 2025).

The rest of Mr. Trissell’s practice is focused on general civil litigation, including serious personal injury cases, bad faith insurance disputes, business litigation, and other litigation with a constitutional emphasis, including political redistricting, defamation, and education rights. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants in his practice. Mr. Trissell prefers to stay with a case through all aspects of its life, from the trial court to the court of appeals. At the trial level, Mr. Trissell has received multiple seven-figure attorneys’ fees awards and participated in several trials. At the Court of Appeal, he has handled many appeals and writs in both California and federal court. In California, he has handled appeals in the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Appellate Districts, receiving both affirmances and reversals. Many of his appeals have also resulted in published opinions, including in California’s Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Appellate Districts, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Collectively, those published appellate opinions have been cited by other courts more than 1,000 times.

Mr. Trissell obtained his law degree from the George Washington University Law School in 2013. When he attended, it was ranked in the top 20 of law schools nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. Prior to that, he graduated magna cum laude as a fourth generation Cowboy from Oklahoma State University. He passed the California bar in 2013 and after a short legal fellowship, joined LiMandri & Jonna to work on their high-profile constitutional law cases.

Mr. Trissell has served on the Board and as President of St. Thomas More Society of San Diego, a bar association for Catholic attorneys. He has also served on the Board of Children of the Immaculate Heart, a non-profit dedicated to helping victims of sex trafficking. He was named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers San Diego in 2020-2023, and 2026. He is married to his beautiful wife Madeleine, and has three children.

 

NOTABLE EXPERIENCE

• From 2023 through 2026, Mr. Trissell, alongside Paul Jonna, successfully prosecuted a first-of-its-kind statewide constitutional class action challenging California’s gender secrecy policies which preclude school officials from talking to parents about their child’s gender transition at school. In December 2026, the District Court entered a final judgment granting the requested statewide injunction, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the order in an emergency ruling in March 2026. The District Court also granted Mr. Trissell’s motion seeking $4.8 million in attorneys’ fees.
• In July 2022, Mr. Trissell obtained two reversals in California’s Fifth Appellate District overturning the decision of the trial court to not throw out two separate lawsuits on the basis of the California anti-SLAPP statute. Both lawsuits were defamation claims.
• In December 2021, Mr. Trissell successfully moved for a preliminary injunction barring California and San Diego County from closing the esteemed boarding school for foster youth, San Pasqual Academy. After the district court’s preliminary order, the case settled with the County agreeing to maintain the school.
• In March 2021, Mr. Trissell successfully defeated an appeal from a final judgment in a corporate derivative action. Two years prior, LiMandri & Jonna had successfully prosecuted a five-week trial on behalf of their clients, members of a trade association for small grocers. The former president of the corporation appealed, but the Fourth Appellate District upheld the judgment.
• In 2020 and 2021, Mr. Trissell was a member of the team that brought a challenge to California’s discriminatory restrictions on gatherings for worship. After the Ninth Circuit denied the challenge, and an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court was taken, California voluntarily agreed to lift the restrictions. The case was titled: South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 959 F.3d 938 (9th Cir. 2020), 140 S. Ct. 1613 (2020). When California later re-imposed the restrictions, another challenge was brought, and this time both the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court struck down portions of those restrictions. The second case was titled: South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 985 F.3d 1128 (9th Cir. 2021), 141 S. Ct. 716 (2021). The case was later recognized by the prestigious CLAY Awards.
• In May 2019, Mr. Trissell successfully moved for summary judgment in an action alleging that an insurance carrier’s refusal to pay LiMandri & Jonna LLP’s attorneys’ fees (amounting to more than $1.15 million) in an underlying action breached the insurance agreement. The case then settled for a confidential amount. The case was titled: USLIC v. A&B Market Plus, Inc., No. 3:19-CV-0172, 2019 WL 2107808 (S.D. Cal. 2019).
• In February 2018, Mr. Trissell successfully defeated an application for a preliminary injunction which sought to prevent a wedding baker from exercising her religious rights at her business. The case garnered national attention. The case was titled: Department of Fair Employment & Housing v. Cathy’s Creations, Inc., No. BCV-17-102855, 2018 WL 747835 (Cal. Super. 2018).
• In April 2017, Mr. Trissell successfully moved for summary judgment on behalf of a condominium association which sued a member for submitting false renovation plans. Mr. Trissell also received an award of over $240,000 in attorneys’ fees.
• In August 2015, Mr. Trissell successfully defeated an application for a preliminary injunction which sought to block publication of videos regarding misconduct in the tissue procurement industry. The case was titled: StemExpress, LLC v. the Center for Medical Progress, Case No. BC589145. The case was subsequently voluntarily dismissed.