Faculty Profile: Stephen Johnson

Mr. Johnson is a trial and appellate attorney whose practice is focused on the defense of persons and companies accused of white-collar crimes, major felonies, and other serious matters in federal and state courts. He has argued or briefed cases before the Supreme Court of the United States; the Supreme Court of Tennessee; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Circuits; all federal district courts in Tennessee; the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and Tennessee Court of Appeals. He has been admitted to practice on a pro hac vice basis in a number of other federal and state courts.
Mr. Johnson has been defense counsel in jury trials and hearings in state and federal courts involving a wide variety of criminal offenses, including charges of theft of trade secrets, racketeering, money laundering, health care fraud, illegal gambling, government contract fraud, wire and mail fraud, bank fraud, perjury, firearms offenses, illegal drug distribution, assault, child abuse and neglect, internet crimes, rape, other sexual offenses and homicide. He has also successfully defended persons at jury trial in murder prosecutions when the death penalty was sought. Mr. Johnson has represented persons wrongfully convicted of serious felony matters on appeal and collateral review, to include direct appeal, state post-conviction, and federal habeas corpus proceedings. He also regularly represents health care providers and other licensed professionals in disciplinary matters.
Mr. Johnson serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), co-chairs NACDL's Sixth Circuit amicus committee, and is a past President of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (TACDL). For three years he served as chair of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) Criminal Justice Section and was the Associate General Counsel for the TBA. Mr. Johnson is on faculty with the Tennessee Criminal Defense College (TCDC), and is a member of the white-collar defense, sentencing, investment, forfeiture, strike force, and membership committees of NACDL. He serves as chair of the technology and management committee of the Knoxville Bar Association (KBA), and is on KBA's Board of Governors. He is both an officer and a Master of the Bench with the Hamilton Burnett Chapter of the American Inns of Court, and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Knoxville Bar Foundation. For his volunteer efforts, the Tennessee Bar Association honored Mr. Johnson with its Access to Justice Award. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America in the area of white-collar criminal defense and has achieved an AV rating for preeminent legal ability and ethical standards from Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Johnson is an adjunct professor with the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he supervises third year law students in the Innocence and Wrongful Convictions Clinic, an initiative he helped create and has been involved in for over fifteen years. He has published articles and taught lawyers, law students, members of law enforcement, and others on the topics of trial practice, wiretapping, ethics, federal grand jury investigations, the death penalty, pretrial preparation, forensics, jury selection, cross-examination, and other criminal law and litigation issues. He has been quoted or profiled in the Tennessee Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, Newsweek and the National Law Journal. He is listed in SuperLawyers, Cityview's Top Attorneys, and the Knoxville Business Journal's 40 Under 40.
Mr. Johnson is a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC). He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence, with honors, from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Mr. Johnson completed his undergraduate education at Carson-Newman University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in International Economics with a minor in Political Science. He was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary Economic History from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and worked as an economist for Govan Initiative, a Scottish economic development agency.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mr. Johnson worked in the education, banking, retail, farming, and manufacturing sectors. He also worked as a juvenile probation officer and private investigator. Mr. Johnson regularly draws on his diverse academic and vocational experiences in representing his clients.
Mr. Johnson enjoys distance running and cycling, has coached youth basketball, and is an active member of his church and community. He has three children and is married to his best friend, Amy Benner Johnson. Amy is a cycling advocate and the Tennessee attorney for the Bike Law network. Mr. Johnson's most important titles are husband and daddy.