James Johnson

James is an experienced trial attorney representing businesses, business owners, and corporate officers in high-stakes state and federal lawsuits and arbitrations in Georgia and California. Because he represents clients in a wide variety of industries—and because he is genuinely interested in learning about industry-specific concepts and explaining them to jurors and judges—James has developed significant expertise in a broad range of litigation subject matter areas. He relishes jumping head-first into challenging new matters and is ready to try a case, no matter how large or complex, at a moment’s notice.

James spent the early part of his career in the construction litigation department of an AM Law 200 law firm and, as a result, has substantial experience representing property owners, developers, hospitality companies, and homebuilders in real estate and construction disputes throughout Georgia. He has tried or arbitrated a variety of cases arising from real estate purchase and sale disputes, specific performance actions, construction defect claims, lender liability claims, payment disputes, and disputes brought by investors or partners in real estate ventures. He currently represents several hotel owners in negligent construction lawsuits. James is skilled at explaining esoteric construction industry concepts and liability theories to juries. During his closing argument in a recent construction trial, James brought the jury (and several court staff members) to tears recounting the problems his clients experienced because of the negligent construction of their home, and that jury awarded every penny James asked for on behalf of his clients.

James doesn’t just handle plaintiffs-side cases, though; he also has substantial experience in defending clients from claims of fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties, and other business torts. He recently represented the CEO of a nationally-recognized real estate company from allegations of fraud and fraudulent asset transfers, with the plaintiff dismissing its claims with prejudice after the first day of jury trial. He also obtained summary judgment for a California defendant facing a $30 million claim from a Russian bank, and received significant media coverage arising from the dismissal of fraud, battery, and other tort claims against his client in a high-profile lawsuit brought against an Atlanta-based fertility cryoservices provider. More recently, when an aggressive trademark holder hired two megafirms and spent millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees trying to obtain a $52 million counterfeiting judgment against James’s wholesaler client, James’s engaging and entertaining trial presentation resulted in a finding of “no willfulness” and only a nominal damages verdict.

In the past few years, several of James’s clients have bypassed large-firm labor and employment departments and asked him to defend them in federal discrimination lawsuits and related labor actions. He finds the defense of these claims—which often feature extremely sympathetic plaintiffs—particularly interesting from a storytelling perspective. In a recent case, James successfully convinced a federal jury to reject gender discrimination and Equal Pay Act claims asserted against his client.

James also loves handling complex white-collar SEC disputes and guiding clients through stressful administrative and criminal investigations. Recently, James was lead counsel for a diversified business group accused by the SEC of perpetrating a $70 million Ponzi scheme, and his work on the civil side of the case helped the group’s owner obtain a “not guilty” verdict at a subsequent federal criminal trial. He represents witnesses, subjects, and targets of SEC pre-suit investigations and parallel federal criminal proceedings. James recently represented a subject in a joint criminal investigation by the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission, as well as a subject of the DOJ’s investigation of corruption and bribery by City of Atlanta officials.

James believes his courtroom skills are his very best attribute as an attorney. He is routinely praised by trial judges and jurors for his attention to detail, his ability to remain calm and composed under pressure, and his skillfulness in explaining complicated legal concepts and intricate fact patterns in a way that is both informative and entertaining. More than a few jurors have told James that they made up their minds after watching his surgical (and almost always humorous) cross-examinations of recalcitrant witnesses. James is skilled at using modern courtroom technology and multiple forms of media to keep jurors entertained and interested—and sympathetic to his clients—during trial.

Since 2011, James has been named a “Rising Star,” “Super Lawyer,” or “Legal Elite” among business litigators by Georgia Trend Magazine and Super Lawyers. In 2017, James was recognized as one of the top 25 Georgia lawyers under the age of 40 by the Fulton County Daily Report. He regularly handles matters involving unique legal and factual issues and interesting clients, and his cases have been discussed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Fulton County Daily Report, Atlanta Magazine, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, People Magazine, Buzzfeed, CNN, and USA Today, among others.

James received his undergraduate degree in banking and finance from the University of Georgia, where he was a First Honors Graduate (highest GPA in graduating class). He earned a scholarship to UCLA School of Law and remains a lifelong Bruin. James and his family live in Coronado, California. When he is not in court, James can often be found hiking and camping in the Eastern Sierra.