Kerrie Forbes’ flight path at JSX

Kerrie Forbes stood behind a huge red ribbon on the tarmac at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport with a 30-seat JSX jet behind her.

It was 11 a.m. on April 28, the grand opening of JSX’s new Southern California airport terminal, which Forbes describes as her best day on the job since she joined JSX as chief legal officer in January 2024.

Orange County was the 2016 birthplace of JSX — a now Dallas-headquartered public charter jet operator offering business-class service to more than 350,000 passengers last year — and the site of its rebirth of sorts nine years later. The event also marked the end of a several-year litigation fight between JSX and local officials in Orange County, which is one of the jet operator’s busiest locations.

“The prior relationships among the county, the airport and JSX had been adversarial and unproductive,” said Forbes, who — along with JSX’s new VP of airport affairs, Ken Edmondson — reengaged with John Wayne Airport leaders about a new terminal.

“Changing up the players on our team helped to turn the tide,” Forbes said.

Legal industry experts say that Forbes, who was an in-house lawyer at Southwest Airlines for 16 years, was the perfect lawyer to be JSX’s first general counsel.

She is leading the public charter’s biggest challenge, which threatens JSX’s very existence.

“There has been an ongoing lobbying effort in [Washington, D.C.,] by some labor unions and Dallas airlines to try to regulate JSX out of business,” Forbes, whose duties include governmental and regulatory affairs, told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview. “I spent a lot of time during my first year at JSX telling our story. We are a small, unique air carrier that has safely and securely flown millions of passengers on hundreds of thousands of flights over our nine-year history. We have robust safety and security standards in compliance with — and exceeding — federal aviation standards.”

That “ongoing lobbying effort” refers to challenges to JSX’s charter model that allows it to offer tickets on its 30-seat aircraft and fly out of private terminals, letting customers skip TSA security lines and airport terminals entirely. Fort Worth-based American Airlines, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines and others have asked the FAA to conduct safety reviews of JSX in what CEO Alex Wilcox has called “pure back-room politicking done by competitors out of complete self-interest.”

“We provide a business-class travel experience, with complimentary Starlink wi-fi, snacks and drinks, and checked bags and room for both big and small dogs onboard,” Forbes said said. “And we offer travel to many airports that are not served by other carriers, like Scottsdale, Opa-Locka/Miami, Denver, Destin and Napa.”

Forbes proudly boasts that Travel + Leisure in July named JSX the No. 1 domestic carrier in its 2025 World’s Best Awards.

“Kerrie’s deep knowledge of aviation law — a complex and highly regulated industry — makes her an invaluable asset for her clients,” said Munck Wilson Mandala Dallas partner Mike Wilson. “Kerrie is a great leader because she has great instincts on selecting her team, empowers others to assume responsibility, provides clear objectives and trusts her team to execute the best strategy.”

Cozen O’Connor partner David Heffernan said Forbes and the JSX team are “so smart and creative and the issues they raise are always interesting and often novel.”

“On a personal level, Kerrie is warm and good-humored, very easy to work with,” Heffernan said. “She’s direct and clear in her requests and focus, which is always appreciated. She is a natural leader who makes everyone feel that their contribution is valued. It’s to Kerrie’s considerable credit that she took on the challenge of becoming the CLO of a relatively new, much smaller air carrier, and she has demonstrated that she has the legal abilities and personal qualities to succeed in that role.”

Forbes was born and raised in Boulder, Colo.

“I have both the law and aviation in my blood,” she said.

Forbes’ father is a lawyer who never practiced law. Instead, he operated his family’s large egg farm, which produced eggs for King Soopers grocery stores for many years, and handled financial planning for the family. Her mother was a flight attendant for Continental Airlines before getting married and then became a stay-at-home mom who later became a successful wedding planner in Colorado.

Forbes met her husband, Ross, during their first year of college at Southern Methodist University part-time.

“He had always wanted to be a lawyer, and he encouraged me to apply, too,” she said. “Ross has been my biggest supporter and cheerleader throughout my career.”

The couple, who have been married more than three decades, went to the Wake Forest University School of Law together. Ross Forbes is now head of litigation at Dallas-based Jackson Walker.

In 1996, Kerrie Forbes joined Jones Day in Dallas, first representing tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds during the company’s historic litigation battle with then Texas Attorney General Dan Morales and 40 other state attorneys general and then focusing on labor and employment litigation.

In 2003, Forbes said she “took a step back from my practice, moving to part-time and staying at home for about a year” when her children were young. Two years later, a friend in the legal department at TXU, Michelle Morgan, convinced her to join the energy company as in-house counsel in 2005.

Forbes’ career in the airline world started in 2007 when she joined the legal department at Southwest as senior counsel for labor and employment.

“I have always loved to travel, and Southwest Airlines stood out as a company that was widely admired at the time for its culture, customer service and focus on employees,” she said. “The airline industry seemed both exciting and dynamic”

In 2016, then-Southwest Chief Legal Officer Mark Shaw promoted Forbes to associate general counsel heading all large litigation matters.

Lauren Wu with Foxstone Recruiting approached Forbes in the fall 2023 about the position at JSX.

“It was the perfect time in my career to consider a move,” Forbes said. “I was eligible for retirement from Southwest and had led both labor and employment and litigation teams at Southwest for many years. I was ready for a new and exciting challenge, and JSX was the perfect place for me. Moving to JSX felt a lot like starting at Southwest. It is a small, scrappy disruptor in the industry that people love.”

Forbes said being the chief legal officer at JSX has allowed her to “learn new areas of the industry.” Her position includes managing the airline’s real estate, airport affairs, government affairs and aviation security work.

“JSX is such a unique air carrier, and we are constantly looking for new opportunities to do more and/or better,” she said. “There is never a routine day working at JSX.”

The Texas Lawbook is an online newspaper that focuses on business law and business lawyers in Texas. A longer version of this article can be read at TexasLawbook.net.