Jennifer R. Johnson, the senior member of The Law Office of Jennifer R. Johnson, has dedicated her life to helping individuals. The daughter of a pastor, she was raised in North Dakota and South Dakota.
Ms. Johnson earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Music Education from Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri. She then attended nursing school at Mesa Community College in Arizona, becoming a Registered Nurse and working in intensive care units.
In 1989, Ms. Johnson enrolled in the James Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in Tucson. During law school, she continued to work as an intensive care nurse. After graduating, Ms. Johnson moved to California, where she successfully passed the California Bar Examination on her first attempt. Since 1992, she has represented individuals throughout the country.
Ms. Johnson spent the first portion of her career representing doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases. As a defense attorney she worked at the prestigious firms of LaFollette, Johnson, DeHaas, Fesler & Ames and Tuverson & Hillyard. While a partner at Tuverson & Hillyard in Newport Beach, California she worked closely with the late attorney Patricia Carmichael, who served as liaison counsel for physicians in the coordinated Diet Drug Litigation, JCCP 4032.
In 2000, Ms. Johnson joined the national powerhouse law firm, Lopez, Hodes, Restaino, Milman, Skikos & Polos. After representing injured individuals in medical malpractice cases for a year, she was recruited by the Mass Tort department to oversee its Diet Drug Litigation. She resolved cases for hundred of individuals who suffered either valvular heart disease of Primary Pulmonary Hypertension – a fatal lung disease – as a result of the diet drug Fen-Phen. As a member of that department, Ms. Johnson also helped to raise funds for furthering research on finding a cure for Primary Pulmonary Hypertension.
While at Lopez, Hodes, Ms. Johnson worked on other pharmaceutical and medical device cases, including overseeing the settlement of the firm’s Vioxx cases. She also worked on cases involving novel facts and law, such as a case where civilian contractors employed by Halliburton were injured and killed on April 9, 2004 during an attack by insurgents. Ms. Johnson is active in the legal community as a member of the Orange County Trial Lawyers, Orange County Bar association, Consumer Attorneys of California, American Association of Justice, AAJ’s Women Trial Lawyers Caucus and Trial Lawyers of Public Justice.
She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Trial Lawyers and of the At Large Board of the Consumer Attorneys of California. Ms. Johnson also mentors young college students who are interested in becoming attorneys.
In addition to her legal work, Ms. Johnson is active in her community as a member of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, where she sings in the Praise Choir and hosts a small group. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Swim With Mike, a scholarship program providing education for athletes disabled through illness or injury. Ms. Johnson is a founding member of the Swim With Mike Family Association, a network for the families of Swim With Mike Scholarship recipients.