Faculty Profile: Michael Johnson

Michael is a business and intellectual property attorney who serves as a strategic advisor to entrepreneurs, creative companies, and technology businesses navigating complex transactions, intellectual property strategy, and commercial disputes. His practice focuses on matters at the intersection of business, intellectual property, and creative industries.

Michael regularly represents startups, growth-stage companies, and established businesses in a wide range of corporate and intellectual property matters. His work includes advising clients on entity formation, founder ownership structures, governance, commercial agreements, licensing arrangements, and strategic transactions. He frequently serves as outside counsel to founders and entrepreneurs, helping them structure businesses, protect intellectual property assets, and navigate key legal and business decisions as their companies grow.

In addition to his transactional practice, Michael represents clients in complex commercial and intellectual property disputes in state and federal courts. Because he regularly advises clients on both deals and disputes, he brings a practical perspective to structuring agreements and protecting intellectual property in ways that minimize risk and support long-term business objectives.

A significant portion of Michael's practice involves companies operating in the music, entertainment, media, and technology sectors. He frequently represents clients involved in the business of music, media, and digital content, where intellectual property ownership, licensing arrangements, and brand value are central to the business model. Michael regularly advises companies whose most valuable assets consist of creative works, intellectual property, and brand identity, helping them build, protect, and monetize those assets.

Before joining Johnson Evans & Headrick, Michael practiced in the entertainment group at Loeb & Loeb LLP and later served as a partner at Kay Griffin Evans. Earlier in his career, he worked in the entertainment industry at Creative Artists Agency, experience that continues to inform his representation of clients in the music and media sectors.

Michael earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Vanderbilt Law Review. His scholarship on trademark law received the Ladas Memorial Award from the International Trademark Association for his article "The Waning Consumer Protection Rationale of Trademark Law: Over-Protective Courts and the Path to Stifling Post-Sale Consumer Use," 101 TMR 1321 (2011).

He has been recognized as a Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Star for more than a decade and was named to Mid-South Super Lawyers in 2026. He has also been named to The Best Lawyers in America for commercial litigation and copyright law.

Lawyers and clients frequently involve Michael when intellectual property rights are central to the value of a business or transaction; when a music, media, or technology company needs counsel on ownership, licensing, or commercialization of intellectual property; founders need guidance on structuring companies and protecting ownership of creative assets; and when businesses face complex commercial disputes involving intellectual property or business relationships.