Michael Jonas       he / him

Founder + Attorney

✤ Academically accomplished

✤ Real-life business experience

✤ Community-focused

Michael grew up in northern Los Angeles County. In high school, he participated in Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, Theatre Club, and Key Club, a community service organization. His primary commitment was Speech and Debate, where he served as president during his junior and senior years. In his senior year, he also participated in DECA, a business competition group. After winning at State, Michael attended the National DECA competition in Salt Lake City, Utah.

At the end of high school, Michael was awarded the “Gift of the Gab” award for best speaker in Mock Trial and Speech and Debate of his graduating class. As a debater, his favorite types were and still are Congress Debate and Spontaneous Argumentation. Upon graduation, he was also awarded a lifetime membership into the National Forensics League, a speaking association.

Michael graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a B.A. in Psychology. For four years, he served as an event programmer for the school’s Hillel, a pluralistic Jewish organization; at one point, he also served on the student executive board as the Fundraising Chair. In addition to attending interfaith dialogue discussions, community business meetings, and community-outreach events, Michael had the pleasure of attending the Spitzer Forum in Washington, D.C. The yearly forum is a time when college students across the nation meet to discuss pressing issues facing society. Upon graduation, he completed the University Leadership Program and in addition to his degree, was awarded a University Leadership Certificate.

In high school and college, Michael worked in several restaurants as a host, dishwasher, busser, and server. As an intern, he learned about business and communications at both an advertising firm and in the marketing and promotions department of a corporate radio-station company. After completing his undergraduate education, Michael worked at two nonprofit organizations: As a fundraising Campaign Executive for United Way of Santa Barbara County, he served as a liaison between business and community members, meeting with and speaking to all kinds of people about people’s ability to drive social progress by working together. That same year, Michael was a job coach for disabled adults, working with and motivating his clients to live active, successful lives.

Michael went on to earn a law degree at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. For two years, he served as the president of the Public Interest Law Foundation, where he managed a board, a budget, and several programs. With the support of the Foundation's board, he planned and executed career fairs, policy and law panels, beach cleanups, and community fundraisers. He participated in and competed on the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Competition Team; as a member, he was able to learn negotiation and mediation practices and techniques, both theoretically and in application, through participation in off-location competitions with other law schools. Michael took both Introduction to Mediation and Advanced Mediation, which he passed with Honors. From 2008 to 2009, Michael mediated numerous small-claims court cases through the Superior Court’s Small Claims Mediation Program. In this pro bono role at the court, he mediated all sorts of cases, from landlord-tenant disputes and homeowners association (HOA) matters, to car-accident cases, contractor remodels gone bad, and even dog-bite claims.

While studying at law school, Michael took classes and secured internships in various law specializations, including contracts, property, health, disability, immigration, housing, the environment, and entertainment. He was an active member of the school’s Environmental and Entertainment Law societies. In 2008, he worked as a contract reporter for Campaign.com, reporting on the presidential-election process, the importance of voting, and the need for the public to understand both sides of an issue before making up their mind. The recipient of a juris doctorate (J.D.) degree, Michael was honored with a certificate of completion from his school’s Pro Bono and Externship Office and a Student Organization President of the Year award, which required faculty and student nominations and votes.

After law school, Michael gained critical business and law experience in conflict resolution, facilitating and executing real estate transactions and negotiations, promoting and marketing projects, and client-management systems for law firms. As the founder and owner of Great Resolutions Achieve Social Progress (GRASP) Mediation, Michael mediated business contracts, civil claims, and family and community disputes. As a break from compensated services and to maintain community involvement, GRASP offered pro bono conflict-resolution and anti-bullying seminars for local Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs. Michael served on the Thomas Jefferson School of Law alumni board for four years, during which time he worked on outreach activities for potential and current law students, collaborated with fellow alumni on community projects, and voted on various matters that the law school was facing in a recovering yet still-challenging economy.

For over five years, Michael was a real estate advisor and agent in San Diego, California, and he has maintained a current California real estate license. Michael prepared residential purchase offers and successfully negotiated contracts from escrow to closing, along with compiling market-trend research, preparing comparative market reports, and creating marketing materials geared toward various populations. Always committed to education, Michael gave presentations on rental-property laws, affordable-housing rules and options, and the purchasing process for first-time homebuyers.

For some seven years, Michael helped various brands meet their experiential-marketing goals. As a brand ambassador and product specialist, he worked at concerts and festivals, from Comic Con to Rock 'n' Roll Marathons and everything in between. Michael had the opportunity to work with leading brands like Dodge, Ford, Puma, North Face, Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network, GameSpot, Pepsi, Jack Daniels, Svedka Vodka, Hillshire Farms, StarKist Tuna, and 7-Eleven. Throughout each contract, Michael fulfilled a variety of marketing roles, including face-to-face consumer presentations and preparing and recording electronic consumer data.

Prior to founding Rational Unicorn Legal Services PC, Michael served as a client manager and paralegal for a high-volume intellectual-property firm. He retained and serviced client accounts, completed outreach efforts using marketing materials and original website content, and collaborated with support staff, the attorney team, and the principal attorney on a variety of client projects. Additionally, Michael engaged with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Copyright Office, filing new patent, trademark, and copyright applications and maintaining existing ones.

Currently, Michael's focus and love is centered around building and maintaining Rational Unicorn Legal Services PC. His third business, Michael previously owned a mediation company and a real-estate company. His goal is to be himself as an attorney; he has no desire to assume a random, unrelatable persona. Rather, he wants to have a career that not only helps people via legal services, but also is honest and founded on the belief that business- and community-building are not mutually exclusive. Michael is thrilled to be able to harness his legal skills while drawing on his past experiences to help people achieve their goals.

Passionate about community engagement, Michael dedicates time to volunteering with several nonprofit organizations. He currently serves on three nonprofit boards: New Leaders Council (NLC), the hub for progressive Millennial thought leadership, The Sean Goodman Foundation for the Performing Arts, and The Portland Farmer’s Market. He also serves as an advisory board member for Benefit Corporations for Good, a company that certifies benefit companies all over the United States.

In March of 2020, Michael completed Portland Business Alliance’s public service training program designed for established and emerging community leaders who have a desire to serve on government boards and commissions or run for public office. In September of 2022, he was accepted to Portland Business Alliance’s Leadership Portland program. Through the regular program days and Impact Project, the nine-month program increases awareness of how business, government and community sectors work together to achieve common goals, and develop skills in achieving impact through inclusion and human-centered, equity-informed, developmental approaches to systems change.

In early August 2021, Michael earned an additional graduate degree, an Executive Masters in Business Administration from Quantic. With this degree, he will continue to advise current and future clients from a social justice and social enterprise lens. He will use his privilege and place at the table to demand diversity and inclusion in the business world, unapologetically ask why or why not when decisions are being made, and remind the business world that their bottom-line shouldn’t just be about financial profits, but about people and the environment.

On January 5, 2024, Michael announced that he is running for Congress in Oregon's 3rd District. The campaign slogan for the Michael Jonas for Congress campaign is "Love, Science, Plans, and Action". He looks forward to talking about the firm on the campaign trail and how building it not only helped with community growth, but personal growth.

Michael also hosts and co-produces a podcast called, “All of Your Business.” This podcast is not a legal podcast or owned by Rational Unicorn Legal Services PC. It is owned and operated by My Creative Vitality LLC. In his free time, Michael enjoys reading, watching movies, and spending time with his amazing husband, Andy, and unbelievably cute dogs, Edison and Ginsburg.