Lauren Johnson

Lauren Johnson is Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, where she does litigation work primarily on criminal justice and policing issues. Formerly, she was Senior Legal Counsel at The Justice Collaborative, where she worked to address systemic injustice in local criminal legal systems across the country through community-focused campaign advocacy and policy development, working with local stakeholders including community activists, advocates, and elected officials. Ms. Johnson's work in criminal law policy is informed by her work as a public defender in the District of Columbia. As a trial attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), she represented clients charged with serious felonies in DC Superior Court. Prior to working at PDS, Professor Johnson was an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center where she represented clients charged with misdemeanors and felonies, and supervised third-year law students in the Criminal Justice Clinic. Ms. Johnson has taught trainings and trial advocacy seminars for law students as well as practitioners on trial theory, trial skills, and other criminal law topics.